Stormflight: Origins
by KuroGalaxy14
Summary: GUYS THIS THING WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE SO HERE HAVE ANOTHER ONE. When Yuki makes an alarming discovery in the forests near his observatory, he calls Gingka to alert him. Can the two come up with a plan quickly enough to avoid disaster? Prequel to the Stormflight series.
1. Meeting

**Yay for new stories! Yay for Stormflight being back *again*! Enjoy!**

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Every story has a beginning. Some are more dramatic than others. Some begin with a frightened woman. Some begin with information, such as a length of time between two points. Some begin with a young girl ho just wants to find her father. Some begin with a description of a legend. They begin in many ways, but are those truly beginnings? Many of them are not. Many of them could have started long before they did.

It took a grand total of sixteen years for our heroes to finally win in the end. Allow me to take you back even earlier than where it all began. Allow me… To take you back to the Origins, to where the entire story truly began.

Gingka stood atop one of the Mayan ruins, his scarf flowing with a light wind that was blowing. The redhead looked around, shifting his bag slightly on his shoulder in an attempt to ease the soreness that was present from having carried it for so long.

"There you are."

Gingka smiled and turned. "Well it took you long enough to show up, Yuki"

"Very funny. You were so late that I cooked and ate an entire meal in the time after you were supposed to be here."

"... Wait, I thought I was on time?" Gingka blinked.

Yuki facepalmed. "You're a full hour late, Gingka."

Gingka looked sheepish. "Oh… Sorry."

Yuki chuckled and shook his head. "Come on. We'll go to my place, since it's getting dark."

Gingka nodded. "Lead the way then."

Yuki chuckled and carefully scrambled down the stairs of the ruins, using vines and outcroppings as he carefully climbed down. When he got to the bottom, Gingka was waiting for him against a tree about fifty feet away. Yuki blinked.

"How did you…?"

Gingka laughed. "I jumped off the top. Who needs to climb down?"

"... Me." Yuki said, sweatdropping. "You could have gotten seriously hurt by doing that you know."

"Well, I didn't." Gingka chuckled, stepping away from the tree and following Yuki into the forest.

"You are an idiot." Yuki said as he pushed a branch aside.

"Guilty as charged. At least I'm not stupid."

"... What's the difference?" Yuki looked back and grinned mischievously before letting go of the branch.

Gingka's eyes widened for an instant before he was smacked in the face and knocked flat on his back.

"Yuki!"

"Problem?" Yuki laughed, bending over Gingka, who had placed a hand over his nose, which was bleeding heavily.

Gingka glared at Yuki and used his free arm to knock Yuki's legs out from under him. The Anubis blader fell flat on his back with a startled yelp.

"Problem?" Gingka asked with a grin as Yuki sat up and glared at him.

"You're-" Yuki suddenly froze, his eyes widening. Gingka sat up slightly, still holding his nose, and raised an eyebrow.

"S-snaaaaake!" Yuki screeched, scrambling off down the path. Gingka turned around, eyes widening, only to find himself face to face with a very large snake.

"Wait for me Yuki!" The redhead called an instant later, scrambling to his feet and after his friend with surprising speed.

That… Was too close." Yuki grumbled as he and Gingka stumbled into the observatory where Yuki lived, nearly an hour later.

"No kidding." Gingka said, panting and sniffling, trying to clear his stuffed-up nose. "So were you trying to break my nose? You do realize that I just recently finally didn't have to do treatments for when that happened before, right?"

Yuki shrugged. "Just trying to be spontaneous and reckless, like you."

Gingka sweatdropped. "I'm beginning to think that I'm not the actual idiot here."

Yuki chuckled. "Says the person who thought that it'd be a good idea to swim across the piranha-infested river on the way here WITH A BLOODY NOSE."

"... Better than trying to use a snake as a vine to swing across."

"Says the person who couldn't help but let out a Tarzan yell and as a result attracted that highly friendly tribe of natives."

"Pegasus scared them off easily enough."

"Yeah, after you nearly killed us by knocking over that tree."

"It didn't hit us!"

"That's because I shoved you out of the way and dodged it!"

"Yeah, but you shoved us right into that panther's den."

"There wasn't a panther in it!"

"It came back before we got out!"

"That tribe fought it off and we got away!"

"I got an arrow through my scarf!"

"I got-... No more comebacks, apparently."

Gingka chuckled and ruffled Yuki's hair. "I win then."

"Hey! I could have not led you here and let you wander around out there you know!" Yuki exclaimed.

"I can see the headline now, "Yuki Mizusawa responsible for death of Gingka Hagane." Gingka snorted.

"We can make that happen." Yuki chuckled.

"You wouldn't dare." Gingka smirked, crossing his arms.

"... Yeah… You've got me there." Yuki admitted sheepishly.

"Well then, we can go on to more serious matters, such as why you dragged me all the way out here when I was having a nice relaxing time training with Kyoya."

Yuki blinked. "'Nice relaxing time' and 'training with Kyoya' do not at all go together, you know."

Gingka chuckled. "True, true. We were relaxing between training. Well, I was. He was too occupied chasing down a lion that stole his dinner because he wasn't paying attention to it while it was cooking."

Yuki blinked, then fell over laughing. "That is so totally a Kyoya thing."

Gingka chuckled. "He never did get his dinner back."

Yuki got up wiping tears from his eyes as he calmed down. "Anyway, I called you here because something we fought in the past has decided to pop up again."

Gingka raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Yuki nodded, the expression on his young face becoming extremely serious.

"Are you gonna tell me what?" Gingka asked.

"The Garcias."

Gingka nearly fell over with a snort. "I had almost been wondering what they'd been up to. It has been a while since we heard anything about them."

"Nearly seven years." Yuki chuckled. "We've heard nothing since the end of that incident with the Spiral Core."

"Exactly. So what about them?"

"Come with me." Yuki said, heading up towards the telescope. Gingka followed him. Yuki angled and adjusted the telescope before stepping aside. "Take a look."

Gingka looked, then blinked and looked again. "Well that's a rather large building there."

"The Garcias are there and running it." Yuki said. "They've started an organization that we should probably keep an eye on. It might become troublesome later."

"Well this is the Garcias we're talking about." Gingka chuckled. "Of course they'll be troublesome. I doubt they've changed their ways since we last saw them."

"The question is, how do we know if they're doing something without them knowing that we know they're up to something?" Yuki asked.

"How should I know?" Gingka asked.

"We'll figure it out."

Gingka chuckled. "Just like we've figured out everything else."

Yuki grinned. "Exactly."

"Well then… Let's begin."


	2. Injury

**Yay for slightly late but still -glances at clock- I have eight minutes. Technically still on my usual update day. XD Enjoy!**

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"This is stupid."

"Well it's the only idea we've got, Gingka. Now hush."

"... The sooner we can get back into real clothing the better." Gingka grumbled.

"Stop talking. You're giving yourself away as being Japanese rather than a tribal warrior."

"... Well I am Japanese and not a tribal warrior, thank you very much."

"Hush. We're almost there. If they know this is us we're in trouble."

"Since when were you in charge…" Gingka grumbled before falling silent as he and Yuki approached the building.

"... They're building an army." Yuki whispered as he and Gingka crept around the very edge of the trees, watching as several hundred people in uniforms went through what appeared to be some sort of training exercise.

"... Can we please just dress up like one of them instead of this?" Gingka replied.

"Now that we know about this, yes." Yuki chuckled. "Perhaps. It'd be at least a bit more logical. But if we do that then only one of us should go in."

"So that if one of us gets caught the other will be free to go get help." Gingka nodded. "Good plan."

Yuki nodded. "Shall we investigate more or leave?"

"Leave, duh. I really am not liking this whole tribal warrior thing. It's honestly embarrassing and if we end up getting caught by the Garcias this is the last thing I want to be wearing." Gingka said, starting off into the bushes.

Yuki chuckled. "Same here." He pulled a small camera out of his spear and snapped a few pictures before darting after Gingka.

"You know, I bet Madoka would like seeing you in that." Yuki said.

Gingka froze for a moment, glad that he was facing away from Yuki as he turned beet red.

"... Don't make me toss you into the river." he grunted before continuing.

Yuki laughed. "You like her." He said in a teasing tone.

"... So?"

Yuki released a dramatic gasp. "He admits it! Ladies and gentlemen is there a wedding in the future!"

"No seriously, shut up." Gingka growled, his face turning redded and redder by the second.

"Gingka and Madoka, sitting in a tree-" Yuki began, then yelped and ducked as Gingka made a swing at him with the long wooden spear he was holding.

"Shut up." Gingka outright snarled, storming past and heading straight towards Yuki's observatory.

Yuki chuckled under his breath. "You do like her though, Gingka. It shows in your face anytime she's brought up. You haven't seen her in five years. Perhaps you should go pay her a visit."

Gingka shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"For one thing, this new threat. It's gonna take all of our time and effort to stop it before it becomes a larger problem, if stopping it now is even possible. It'll depend on how much they have completed and how fast we can gather resources and… Alert the others."

"Do you think it'll be necessary, Gingka?"

"It's a possibility." Gingka sighed. "If the Garcias have already done a lot then.. We'll need them all."

Yuki nodded "I'll try to get in contact with them once we get back to the observatory."

"Once you get back to the what? Who are you? You're not natives." A voice said.

Gingka and Yuki froze and slowly looked up.

"... We went in a circle…" Gingka whispered as he saw a rather suspicious looking Ian Garcia staring at them.

"... So much for not being caught by the Garcias in 'the last thing you'd want to be wearing.' Should we run for it?" Yuki asked.

"We may have to fight." Gingka whispered back.

"Answer me!" Ian demanded as the two were surrounded.

"... We apologize, monsieur. We were merely enjoying the ruins in the area and got sidetracked." Gingka suddenly said in a surprisingly accurate French accent. Yuki looked surprised, but said nothing, merely nodding.

"In that?" Ian's voice gained a tone of disgust as he glanced at the two with a raised eyebrow.

Gingka and Yuki glanced down at their tribal getup.

"We did not want to get attacked by the natives." Gingka said, still in the French accent. "If you don't mind, we will be leaving now."

"That cannot be allowed now." Ian growled. "Get them!"

The DNA bladers lunged for the two, but Gingka and Yuki vaulted over their heads and somehow managed to get into the forest, where they immediately took off running.

"Get them! Do not let them escape!" Ian yelled angrily.

"We can't… Let them know… It's actually us…" Yuki panted as he ran.

Gingka nodded. "They won't… If we can help it."

Yuki nodded and scrambled up a tree before pulling Gingka with him and hiding. The men chasing them soon ran past beforepausing.

"Which way did they go?" They called, splitting up and searching.

"Over here!" One called as he spotted some rustling in the bushes. Soon, two struggling tribal warriors were dragged out.

"We have you, you false tribal men!" One said, pointing a rifle at the two, who glared and yelled something in a tribal tongue.

"... We should leave." Gingka whispered as he watched the scene.

"Agreed." Yuki said. "Good thing we didn't run into them."

With that, the two turned and crept further up the tree until they found a branch from another tree that would allow them to get into the neighboring tree. They glanced down at the sound of yelling from below and spotted the enemy guards fighting an entire group of tribal men that had come out of nowhere.

"Definitely a good thing we avoided them." Yuki said.

"I don't want to become dinner anyway." Gingka grunted as he carefully crawled across the tree branch.

"We'd better stick to up here until we're further. They won't notice us as easily." Yuki said.

"I know." Gingka said, climbing over to yet another tree. "This outfit is getting really uncomfortable though."

Yuki chuckled. "Another reason we should get back quickly. I'll be glad to get into my own clothing rather than this getup."

"Exactly." Gingka sighed.

"... Gingka…" Yuki said slowly.

"What is it?" Gingka asked, pausing. The tree branch below them shifted slightly. Gingka's eyes widened and he looked down.

"... I think we should very carefully step off of this branch. I didn't notice when we stepped onto it." Yuki whispered.

Gingka nodded slowly and looked for a clear area of bark. A quick jump soon had him to safety. He turned back to see whether Yuki had gotten to safety, then froze, eyes widening in horror.

"Y-Yuki…" The redhead breathed, spotting the look of total fear on the face of the other Legendary Blader. Yuki had always been afraid of snakes, and now he was wrapped in the coils of a rather dangerous one. Ideas flashed into Gingka's mind- how in the world was he going to get Yuki free?- and he shook his head, narrowing his eyes in determination.

"Hang on Yuki, I'll get you out!" Gingka said determinedly, scrambling up to a branch above Yuki and making sure that there were no snakes around. He knew that he was going to have to act quickly if he didn't want Yuki to end up becoming the lunch of the large snake that was wrapped around him.

"Yuki, can you get your arms free?" Gingka asked.

"O-one is free." Yuki said. "Hurry, it's getting hard to breathe."

"Just stay calm." Gingka said, his hands trembling slightly as he pulled a loose vine down and tossed it to Yuki. "Hold onto this. I'll try to pull you straight up and out."

Yuki nodded and reached up, gripping the slippery plant tightly and managing to wrap it around his arm a bit. Gingka pulled up as hard as he could, grunting and straining. A cry of pain from Yuki caused him to quickly release the vine as he looked down and realized that he really wasn't helping. Gingka growled as he spotted Yuki beginning to turn pale.

"G-Gingka…. Hurry…" Yuki gasped, struggling to remain consciousness.

Gingka growled. "What do I do?!" He growled. staring down at Yuki as the snake tightened its coils further and further. Yuki gasped faintly in pain as something snapped before he went limp.

Gingka gasped, instinct taking over. If Yuki was going to survive now, Gingka was going to have to take immediate action. Only one thing came to mind. The one thing that always came to mind in a dangerous situation. Before Gingka even fully realized what he was doing, Pegasus was flying towards the snake at full power. An angry hiss sounded as Pegasus's attack tore into the snake, which was soon forced to completely release its grasp on Yuki. Gingka dove off the branch and caught Yuki as the Anubis blader plummeted limply towards the ground. With the help of a strong vine, Gingka managed to catch Yuki.

"Come on… Hang in there." Gingka growled, sliding carefully to the ground and shifting Yuki into his arms. His golden-brown eyes began to fill with tears as, with one glance, he took in the bruised and slightly mangled form of his friend, his comrade.

"Yuki… I'll save you… You won't die." Gingka growled, swiping tears away before standing and darting off, hoping that he could find his way to a hospital or the observatory in time.

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 **Yay! Cliffhangers! Cliffhangers that if you think about them aren't cliffhangers! But we'll see if any of you will figure it out. XP**


	3. Ryuga

**Woohoo! New chapter! XD Enjoy! Oh, and since there seems to potentially be a little bit of confusion (I have had at least one person ask me if Gingka and Madoka are married in this one) I would like to state more specifically that this is a PREQUEL, meaning that it happens before the other four Stormflight stories. So Gingka and Madoka are not married. This is set approximately one year before Shogun Steel. The original Stormflight (Stormflight: Together We Stand) is set during Shogun Steel, about a year after this one, and the other three (Return of the Warrior, The Next Generation, and The Final Battle) Are set their respective distances along the timeline after that. Gingka and Madoka get married at the end of Together We Stand, and therefore are not married in this story. Sorry if there was any confusion but hopefully I cleared that all up, so now you can enjoy the chapter!**

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"Yuki.. Hang on…" Gingka growled as he spotted a city at last. He couldn't tell how long he had been running. He only hoped that it hadn't been too long. Yuki had to survive. Without Yuki, the Legendary Bladers would have a much harder time. Yuki was the one who had set up and currently maintained their information and communication network. Without him it would become increasingly difficult to keep an eye on the world as they did now. Yuki would survive. He had to. And Gingka would make sure that it happened.

Multiple doctors looked up and raised an eyebrow as a single tribal warrior rushed in, carrying the mangled form of a second.

"... Don't those guys usually stay deep in the jungle?" One doctor asked nervously.

Gingka glanced down at himself and groaned mentally.

"Look, we're not tribal warriors. We just dressed up that way, now help him!" He nodded to the limp form in his arms.

"Lay him here. We will do all we can." The doctors said, bringing out a stretcher. Gingka carefully laid Yuki down on it, worry shining in his eyes.

"Yuki… Hang in there…" He whispered as his comrade was rushed off into the hospital. Several doctors looked at Gingka in concern as he half-collapsed, panting heavily.

"Are you alright, sir?" One asked.

Gingka waved them off, sighing and looking at himself. "I'm fine… But… Is it too much to ask for some normal clothing instead of this stupid thing?"

"Not at all, sir. We can give you a temporary change of clothing and you can run down to a nearby store to get a more permanent one." One nurse said.

"Thanks…" Gingka muttered, suddenly noticing exactly how exhausted he was. The adrenaline rush from saving Yuki was beginning to wear off and, after the activity of both the previous day and the current one, Gingka was completely worn out. He sighed heavily, suddenly glad that he had decided to bring some money that was hidden underneath his clothing, if what he was wearing could even be considered clothing. The redhead nodded gratefully as a nurse brought him one of the hospital gowns to wear. Still embarrassing, but at least people wouldn't stare at him like he was actually a tribal warrior out of place in the middle of the small city.

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Less than an hour later, Gingka returned to the hospital and returned the hospital gown to a few staring nurses, who clearly were doubting whether he was the same person as the tribal warrior that had rushed in earlier.

"Call me if anything happens with him." Gingka said, giving them his phone number. "I am going to go rest."

The nurses nodded, staring after the redhead as he walked out, shoving his hands into the pockets of the dark blue pants that he had just bought. Gingka sighed, deciding to check into a hotel rather than sleeping outside as he usually did. He figured that after so much hard work, he deserved it anyway.

"Hey, is that… ?!"

"Oh no…" Gingka groaned mentally. The last thing he needed right now was a group of news reporters or fans chasing after him, especially when he was completely exhausted.

"It's him! Whoa! It really is the Legendary Blader, Gingka himself! Hey, wait!"

Gingka sighed heavily and tried to ignore the group of younger bladers and news reporters that were now chasing him down.

"Battle me, Gingka! Please!" the bladers demanded, while the news reporters demanded an interview.

Gingka paused as the bladers raised their launchers.

"You want to battle me?" He said calmly.

"Yes!" They said.

"Fine then." Gingka said, whirling, raising his launcher, and launching almost before the others realized what was happening.

"Pegasus!" An enormous explosion gave Gingka the cover he needed to escape before anyone noticed as he knocked all of the bladers out simultaneously and sent them flying back.

"Where did he go?"

"Good thing I learned how to escape quickly." Gingka sighed as he watched from atop a nearby building, catching Pegasus out of the air neatly before turning and walking slowly off, hoping he could even make it to a hotel without collapsing from exhaustion.

"Yuki…" The thought of his injured friend weighed heavily on his mind as he walked into a hotel, startling the receptionist.

"I just need a room. I don't care what kind." Gingka muttered. The receptionist, noting the look of complete exhaustion on his face, nodded and quickly checked him in. Gingka went up to the room he was given and closed the door, barely making it to the bed before completely collapsing onto the mattress.

"Ow…" He groaned, enjoying the feeling of laying down at last and allowing his sore, tense muscles to relax. It was not long before he drifted right off to sleep, exhaustion taking over completely.

Gingka did not know how long he had been asleep, but he woke up to the sound of a rather frightening roar.

"Whaa…" The redhead muttered groggily, raising his head and trying to ignore the extreme soreness in his muscles. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of the reddish light coming through the curtains.

"Could that… But no… That's impossible. He's dead… Right?" Gingka stood shakily and stumbled to the window, blinking sleep away from his eyes. He pushed back the curtains and his eyes widened.

"It is… L-drago…" Gingka muttered. "So… Ryuga is alive? Interesting…" He sighed and closed the curtains. "I will have to see if I can talk to him… Somehow." An idea popped into Gingka's mind and he smirked suddenly, a light blue glow appearing behind his eyes. "Or perhaps I won't have to go anywhere." He said, reaching for Pegasus and turning back to the window.

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Ryuga opened his eyes and looked up at his blazing dragon. He was laying on his back in the middle of who-knew-where, but he didn't care. All he knew was that L-Drago was soaring once more. Ryuga sighed and sat up, catching the bey out of the air and blinking suddenly, looking down at himself. He scowled at the injuries he saw.

"Nemesis… But at least Hagane beat you." He growled. "I saw that much before L-Drago put me into some sort of weird sleep." Ryuga stood, scowling as he found that he was barely able to manage even that. "How far have I fallen?" He snarled. "Yet at the same time.." His golden eyes narrowed. "That kid Kenta… I have to admit that he got through to me. He was something…" Ryuga sighed and leaned against a nearby tree, closing his eyes for a moment before a loud explosion caught his attention.

"What's that?" He muttered, opening his eyes and turning, then spotting the source: the enormous blue armored horse that was now spreading its wings over the city.

"Pegasus, huh? It seems that Hagane saw my return to the conscious world after all." Ryuga narrowed his eyes. "But I did not expect him to be here. What is he doing?"

Only silence answered Ryuga's question.

"Well Hagane? Come out and face me, if you're really here!" Ryuga called. "I know that was you!" He reached for L-Drago and tried to raise his launcher, only to wince.

"S-Still injured… But that's not gonna stop me!" Ryuga roared, raising his launcher before narrowing his eyes and scowling at a bey that landed in front of him and spun steadily.

"Who's there?" He growled, launching with a rather surprising amount of power. L-Drago attacked experimentally, but the other bey did not give in, merely sending it flying in clean fashion.

"Even if I'm exhausted… Ryuga is more so?" Gingka opened his eyes and frowned. "I can feel it. Ryuga is not quite at the level of strength he was six years ago when I last fought him. Perhaps it's because of his battle against Nemesis, however… It has been six years since that happened as well. That's plenty of time for him to recover his strength."

"What is this bey?" Ryuga snarled. "It can't have sent L-Drago flying that easily. I cannot be that weak. L-Drago!"

"Ryuga, stop. I can feel that you are weaker than you were before Nemesis. That or… I am stronger. Either way, my intent was not to battle you."

Ryuga narrowed his eyes as the clash brought the thought into his mind. "Who's there?" He growled.

"It's me. Gingka. I am in a hotel not too far away and saw L-Drago. Currently, I'm not in a condition to go very far personally, so I sent Pegasus."

"So this is Pegasus, huh?" Ryuga scowled. "You've gotten another little toy, I see."

"This is the same Pegasus that you fought before, only now it has been upgraded to the form you see now." Gingka said.

"Isn't that nice for you." Ryuga growled.

"Calm down, Ryuga. We need your help again."

"What, you're still too weak to do things on your own? Pathetic."

".. Ryuga. That's not it at all. Listen to me. In the last six years, the rest of us have-" Gingka began, but was interrupted.

"Six years? What are you talking about, Hagane?" Ryuga snarled.

"... Do you not know that it has been six years since Nemesis was defeated?" Gingka asked.

Ryuga gasped sharply, then narrowed his eyes and growled. "How can that be possible?"

"How should I know? Maybe you should come here and I can explain, rather than us having to do it like this when neither of us have the strength for a full-out battle."

"Why should I?" Ryuga growled.

Gingka narrowed his eyes. "You promised Kenta. He still holds the power you gave him. If that is still important, then meet me on the roof of the hotel I am in now. I know that you can get there much faster than I could get to you."

Ryuga growled. "Fine. But only because of that brat."

"I think once you see the Kenta of today you will be a bit less inclined to call him a brat." Gingka said before Pegasus darted off towards its master. Ryuga scowled and, in a flash of red lightning, was atop the hotel. His eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed.

"So you weren't lying. I see now that it has been a while."

Gingka chuckled as he leaned against an air conditioning unit. "Somehow I figured you wouldn't believe me unless you saw proof."

"Well you no longer look like a little kid, I'll give you that."

Gingka merely laughed. "I should hope that I don't. You don't look so good."

Ryuga looked down at himself and scowled. "Minor details."

Gingka chuckled as he stepped towards his old rival. "Sure, sure. But those wounds are still weakening you. Strange that they have not yet healed."

Ryuga crossed his arms. "Doesn't matter. I can still crush you if I want to."

Gingka paused a few feet away from Ryuga and extended his hand. "Come with me."

"And why should I?"

"One, because we need your help. Two, because of Kenta. You may deny it, but I know that deep down you really do care for him. The fact that you gave him your power proves that much."

Ryuga looked away, scowling. As much as he hated to admit it, for once he had to admit that Gingka was right about him.

"I will join you on one condition." Ryuga growled.

"What is that?" Gingka asked, frowning slightly.

Ryuga looked back at Gingka and smirked, raising L-Drago. "Battle me. If you win, I'll go along with your little plans."

Gingka smirked. "Fine then. I think you'll be surprised. Better get ready to join our network. But we shouldn't battle here."

Ryuga smirked. "I might throw you off the rooftop if we did and that would just be unfair. If I'm going to defeat you, I will crush you completely."

Gingka chuckled. "You underestimate me. I've had the last six years to grow in strength. I am much stronger than when we last fought and I beat Nemesis, who you lost to. Granted, it was with the power of the entire world backing me, but it is that same power that I always had. I will defeat you. Count on it."

Ryuga smirked. "We'll see about that, Hagane."

A red flash of lightning enveloped them both and took them elsewhere. Gingka yelped slightly in surprise and looked around.

"Well, you found a nice open clearing here." Gingka chuckled.

"Let's do this." Ryuga smirked as he raised his launcher.

"Yeah." Gingka chuckled, also raising his launcher and ignoring the soreness in his arms.

"Three!" Ryuga growled.

"Two!"

"One!"

"Let it rip!"

"L-Drago!" Ryuga roared, immediately glowing a brilliant red-orange as L-Drago attacked fiercely, slamming into Pegasus at full power. The silver and blue bey went flying, but Gingka seemed unfazed.

"Pegasus! Go now! Special move, Galaxy Nova!" Gingka called out, as Pegasus appeared and spread its wings before soaring high into the sky. Ryuga looked up expectantly, waiting to make a move until the winged horse reappeared. Soon enough, Pegasus came diving back down.

"L-Drago, Dragon Emperor Life Destructor!" Ryuga roared as L-Drago leapt straight into the air, fangs bared as it flew for Pegasus like an arrow flying towards its target, which it may as well have been.

Gingka grinned widely. "Been a long time since I battled this strong of an opponent. Don't give up, Pegasus!"

Ryuga growled. "L-Drago!" He roared.

An enormous explosion ripped through the air, causing the very ground to shake. Both Pegasus and L-Drago flew back. Gingka narrowed his eyes.

"He has power, that's for sure. As usual, Ryuga will not be an easy blader to fight. But I can't lose. We need the help of everyone we can get, especially with Yuki injured." Gingka muttered to himself, narrowing his eyes as his thought flashed for a moment to the memory of his injured comrade. His eyes narrowed.

"You think… You can beat me?" Ryuga growled, feeling his strength returning.

Gingka closed his eyes for a second. "I know I can."

"How?" Ryuga growled.

Gingka opened his eyes, which were now glowing blue. "Because I have to!" He shouted.

Ryuga raised an eyebrow, managing to keep his surprise from showing on his face. "Oh?"

Gingka smirked. "I have grown stronger. I'm not at all the same blader I was before."

"I've heard that one before, Hagane. So, if you think that you really have changed and can beat me now… Then prove it! L-Drago!" Ryuga roared as he and his bey glowed and pulsed, charging towards Gingka and Pegasus in a ball of fire.

"Fly now, Pegasus! Show Ryuga, show him now! Show him your new power!" Gingka said as Pegasus disappeared in a flash.

"What?" Ryuga growled, looking around for the silver and blue bey's imminent attack. However, even he had to admit that he was not expecting Gingka's next move.

"Pegasus… Lightning Strike Storm!" Gingka yelled, nearly becoming hidden from view as his aura wrapped powerfully around him, shooting into the sky and creating a cloud of energy. Pegasus appeared and spread its wings, whinnying a challenge before flapping its wings and sending multiple bolts of lightning flying for L-Drago.

"What?!" Ryuga gasped as L-Drago was sent flying by the attack.

"Finish it, Pegasus!" Gingka said as the lightning flashed, bolts coming faster and faster before an enormous explosion blew both bladers off their feet.

As the dust cleared, both Gingka and Ryuga got back to their feet, panting. Ryuga growled angrily.

"That was cute, Hagane."

Gingka smirked. "Well then, 'cute' just defeated you." He said, pointing triumphantly to L-Drago, who was motionless, half-buried in the ground beneath them, while Pegasus spun circles around it.

Ryuga gasped. "No way!"

Gingka grinned and caught Pegasus out of the air as it returned to him. "As agreed then?"

Ryuga narrowed his eyes at Gingka as he reached down and picked up his bey. "Fine."

Gingka chuckled and walked over, extending a hand to his rival. "Welcome aboard, Ryuga."

Ryuga rolled his eyes before smirking. "Alright Hagane, for once you have convinced me. But you'd better not make this boring." He took Gingka's hand and clasped it firmly.

Gingka smirked. "Saving the world is never boring. And I should know. I've done it three times, after all."

Ryuga merely grunted, but smiled. A single bolt of red lightning came, and when it faded, Gingka and Ryuga were once more gone.

* * *

 **Woohoo! Epic battles! I'm hyper! And I have once more reached my seven-page length that I had previously! I'm loving this thing! I feel like I am actually able to use my fill writing skills again because this story is going so much better than the last one! (Even though I did like writing Into the Future. Stormflight always gets me pumped up.) Until next time, Galaxy out!**


	4. Pillow Fight

**I have no good excuses for why this is late. I was procrastinating. That is all. Enjoy.**

* * *

When Yuki woke, all he knew was a dull ache that spread through his entire body. He groaned faintly, the sound of his own voice echoing inside his head as he opened his eyes, squinting as he was met with a bright white light. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened, and gasped, his eyes snapping open fully.

"Where am I?!" The panicked thought entered his mind as he tried to look around, only to find that movement sent pain shooting through his entire body. He grunted, biting his lip to keep from crying out.

"Mr. Mizusawa? Please relax. It is alright." a nurse said, entering.

"W-where…?" Yuki grunted, finding it difficult and painful to breathe.

"You are in the hospital. Everything will be okay but you should not move, as you are badly injured."

"How… Did I get here?" Yuki blinked in confusion, trying to clear his mind.

"Your friend Gingka Hagane brought you here, sir."

"Where is he?" Yuki asked.

"He went to rest somewhere, supposedly."

"What do you mean supposedly?"

"We saw an explosion several hours ago that indicates he was not resting. We are trying to contact him now to let him know that you are awake."

"Alright.." Yuki muttered, sighing shakily and wincing.

* * *

"Hagane."

"Nnn…."

"Hagane."

"Hnn?"

"Wake up!"

Gingka yelped and sat bolt upright as a pillow smacked him in the face, hard. He glared sleepily at Ryuga. Before the Dragon Emperor knew what was happening, he had been knocked flat on his back by another pillow.

"Why you little-!" Ryuga snarled as he lunged for Gingka, who yelped and threw the remaining pillows on one bed in rapid succession before diving over the other bed and hiding behind it. Ryuga scrambled onto the bed and smacked Gingka with several pillows before smirking, then yelping as the redhead tackled him to the ground before somersaulting atop the other bed in a single movement. As Ryuga stood, he was pelted by four pillows in rapid-fire succession. The white-haired blader soon returned fire, knocking Gingka off the bed and onto the floor.

Gingka sat up and immediately began throwing pillows again, Ryuga caught one and used it to block the others from hitting him.

"Cool it, Hagane!" Ryuga snarled, knocking Gingka flat on his back with another well-aimed pillow.

"You started it!" Gingka said, leaping to his feet and throwing the pillow back, knocking Ryuga off the bed.

"Your phone was ringing!" Ryuga growled, knocking Gingka down again.

"... Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"You were attacking me!"

"You attacked first!" Gingka snapped as he got up.

"You wouldn't wake up!"

"You didn't have to hit me with a pillow!"

"Well I did!"

"Because your phone was ringing and now you missed the call!" Ryuga growled.

Gingka grumbled under his breath and scrambled across the bed to reach for his phone. Just as he grabbed it, Ryuga smacked him in the face with another pillow and knocked him off of it again.

"Why you-!" Gingka tackled his rival and soon had Ryuga pinned.

"Just answer your phone, idiot." Ryuga growled, throwing Gingka off of him before standing and leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and eyes closed.

Gingka grumbled something under his breath and picked up his phone, frowning slightly as he noticed that it was the hospital that had called. He sighed and tapped the call back button, then held the phone to his ear, trying to calm himself down from the pillow fight with Ryuga.

"Mr. Hagane?"

"Yeah. Sorry I missed the call a minute ago. I was occupied." Gingka said, looking pointedly at Ryuga, who huffed and looked away, a slight smirk of amusement on his face.

"It's alright sir. We were merely calling to tell you that your friend Yuki Mizusawa has regained consciousness. He should be fine, but will not be able to leave the hospital for quite a while."

Gingka breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright. Thank you."

"You're welcome sir. Have a good evening." The nurse hung up.

Gingka blinked. "Evening?"

"You were out for nearly twelve hours after that two in the morning snack of yours." Ryuga grumbled.

"... Oh."Gingka looked sheepish.

Ryuga rolled his eyes. "You are more of an idiot than I thought."

"Hey!" Gingka gained a tick mark and threw a pillow at Ryuga once more. The Dragon Emperor evaded it rather easily, a smirk playing across his lips as he stared down his redheaded rival.

"You wanna go, Hagane?" Ryuga said, beginning to glow.

"We'll have to take it outside then." Gingka growled as the fire ignited behind his eyes.

Ryuga smirked. "Let's go then." He opened the window and jumped out. Gingka blinked and quickly followed.

The two darted through the streets, an unofficial race beginning as they ran towards the outer edge of the city, towards a place where they could battle without blowing up any buildings. Ryuga panted slightly and growled under his breath as he realized that Gingka was actually winning. Ryuga's own injuries that were somehow still present from the battle with Nemesis were beginning to slow him down. The Dragon Emperor growled at this, crouching for an instant before springing ahead at a faster pace than before. Soon, he and Gingka reached the edge of the city and plunged into the forest.

"You've gotten faster Hagane, I'll give you that." Ryuga growled.

Gingka smirked. "It's been six years. I should hope so."

Ryuga rolled his eyes and huffed. "You're still an idiot though."

Gingka chuckled. "Perhaps. Perhaps. But I still beat Nemesis, which you failed to do."

Ryuga's eyes flashed red. "Don't remind me." He snarled, expecting Gingka to scuttle for cover, as many others had before, but the redhead just laughed and waved it off.

"Let's go then." Gingka said, reaching for his launcher. Ryuga whipped his launcher out in an instant, then paused as a ringing sound came from Gingka's pocket.

"You have a phone call, Hagane."

Gingka rolled his eyes and replaced his launcher in its case. "One second… Dynamis?" He blinked and answered. "Hello?"

"Gingka. I cannot get in contact with Yuki. Do you know where he is?" Dynamis's calm voice came through the speaker.

"Ahh… He's in the hospital." Gingka said. "He and I had a little run-in with a snake."

"I see. Is he alright?" An undertone of worry entered Dynamis's voice.

"He should be. They said he's awake, at least, which I assume is a good thing." Gingka said. "Why did you need to talk to him?"

"Strange things are beginning to happen." Dynamis said. "Things which I assumed he had noticed from his observatory."

"... Is this going to be another 'will of the heavens' thing?" Gingka asked slowly. Ryuga let out a snort.

Dynamis chuckled. "As a matter of fact, no. I have merely noticed a couple of items of interest in the news lately. Things that the majority of the world's population would not have noticed but they stood out to me, and I assume will have stood out to the others as well if they have read this particular article."

"Such as?" Gingka asked.

"A certain advertisement looking for bladers wanting to become stronger by joining an organization. However, the wording of this suggests that the advertiser wants those who have nobody else to turn to, who would otherwise not stand much of a chance."

"So it was worded like they were looking for bladers who have nothing." Gingka frowned. "That certainly matches up with some things I've been seeing recently."

"Such as?" Dynamis sounded intrigued.

"Yuki and I have found that the Garcias are up to something. Something big. A definite threat." Gingka said.

"I see. So it is once more time to take up arms."

"Perhaps." Gingka said. "We don't know exactly what they're up to just yet. I think Yuki wanted to investigate a bit more before we decided for sure what to do. We don't know what they want to do and this organization is already pretty large by the looks of things."

"You are letting him decide then?"

"Once he gets out of the hospital, yeah. He and I probably can't take them out alone before they could do some damage." Gingka said.

"I see." Dynamis said.

"First though we need to figure out the extent of their network, assuming they have one of some sort." Gingka said. "But we can't let them know we're investigating them."

"I see." Dynamis said. "I will keep an eye out for them around here."

"Thanks, Dynamis. I'll contact the others and tell them."

"I will call the other Solar System bladers and tell them." Dynamis said. "You continue what you were doing there."

"Which at the moment means battling Ryuga." Gingka chuckled. "And then calling Kyoya, Kenta, and Chris, I suppose."

".. Battling who?" Dynamis blinked.

"Apparently Ryuga survived. He and I were about to battle when you called." Gingka said.

"If you do not want the Garcias to know that you are there then you should avoid making yourselves to obvious. Battles between Legendary Bladers are not exactly small things. They will be noticed by anyone within a fairly large radius."

"... True…" Gingka frowned and glanced at Ryuga, who raised an eyebrow. "But I wanted to battle."

Dynamis chuckled under his breath at the redhead. "I understand. But from what you have told me, now is not the time."

Ryuga animefell as Gingka let out a childish whine. "But Dynamis!"

Dynamis facepalmed, honestly wanting to bang his head on the stone walls that surrounded him.

"Hagane, you're still an idiot…" Ryuga grumbled as he got back up.

Gingka grinned. "I try."

Dynamis sweatdropped. "How did you end up in charge again?"

Gingka laughed. "Because I beat you all in bey battle, that's how. Remember?"

Dynamis chuckled. "Yes, I know. I shall let you return to what you were doing. Be careful."

"Never am." Gingka grinned.

Dynamis sweatdropped again. "Do it anyway. If Yuki was badly injured by not being careful out there, then you could be as well. We cannot have any more setbacks."

"Fine." Gingka chuckled. "I'll be careful for once. Seeya later Dynamis."

"Goodbye, Gingka. Perhaps we should all speak together about this."

"Yeah. I'll call everyone from Yuki's observatory once he has recovered." Gingka said.

"Alright. I will tell the others to be awaiting that call."

"Thanks. Seeya then." Gingka hung up and turned back to Ryuga, who was banging his head against a tree.

"Uhh… Ryuga?"

"Why did I ever agree to join you…" Ryuga growled.

Gingka chuckled. "No clue. But you did. Shall we get you some clothes that aren't so tattered? You look like some homeless dude."

Ryuga huffed and looked down at his clothing, frowning as he realized that Gingka was in fact correct about his clothing, which now fit him pretty badly.

"Fine." He growled.

Gingka chuckled. "Off we go then." He turned and led the way through the forest, back towards the city, the thought of battle having been forgotten for the time being.

* * *

 **Phew. Bit shorter of a chapter length than usual and it's a week late but oh well. I am a terrible procrastinator. I shall try to get another chapter finished and posted but we'll see how that goes. It will probably not be until next week that I post another chapter. Until next time, Galaxy out!**


	5. Planning

**I'm back! It's been about two weeks since I updated, but I'm back! And I do not plan on going on such a long hiatus again. Netflix got in the way. But I shall not let it do so again. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, which is set about two months or more after the last. Something like that. Enjoy!**

* * *

"So… Let me get this straight… While I was in the hospital, you found out that Ryuga wasn't actually dead, got him to join us, and contacted the others about this?" Yuki said as he, Gingka, and Ryuga entered the observatory.

"Pretty much." Gingka chuckled sheepishly.

Yuki shook his head in amusement. "How do you manage to do all of these seemingly impossible things?"

Gingka chuckled. "You don't give up, that's all. So, here's what's going on." He tapped the keyboard in front of him, causing the computer screen to light up.

"The Garcias have basically an entire army already. While we could go in and take them out, it'd be risky. Ryuga and I infiltrated them last week and they are building weapons that our beys may not be able to combat."

"Well, glad to see you gained some strategy skills instead of the usual 'rush in and blow everything up.'" Yuki chuckled.

"... Aguma may or may not have helped me a bit." Gingka admitted.

Yuki kept chuckling, before taking a deep breath and calming down. "So what are these weapons then?"

"About what you'd expect the army of a small country to have. This battle is going to have to be much more than our beys alone. We'll need our own weaponry and potentially our own army."

Yuki looked thoughtful. "We have an army. And I have been thinking about a way for us to get around faster. That idea could easily be weaponized."

Gingka raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued. "Oh?"

Yuki grinned. "Come on. I'll show you." He led the way out of the main room and down a short flight of stairs into a dark room. With the flick of a lightswitch, a full science laboratory was revealed.

"... Has this been down here the whole time?" Gingka said, surprised.

"Yes." Yuki chuckled, walking over to some blueprints that were hanging on the wall.

"And this is?" Gingka asked, looking a bit overwhelmed by all of the lines and diagrams.

"The blueprints for a piece of technology. The prototype's over here. I haven't been able to test it. I was working on it before I discovered that the Garcias were up to something."

"And this is supposed to be..?" Gingka asked, looking at the seemingly random pieces of metal that had been welded together into a rather bulky-looking shape.

"If it works, jetpacks." Yuki said. "But they're connected to a helmet thing that will have night vision capabilities."

"And you were working on this for…?"

"Well remember that conversation we had a while back about how it'd be nice to not have to wait for plane tickets all the time, how much easier it'd be to get around without having to worry about the media all the time?"

"Yes…?" Gingka said hesitantly.

Yuki chuckled. "That got me thinking, about whether or not we actually needed to be getting plane or boat tickets all the time. It sure would save us all quite a bit of money if I could find an efficient way to do it, something we could easily carry around."

"Well this doesn't look like it'd be easy to carry around." Gingka commented.

Yuki looked sheepish. "I need to find a smaller fuel source. And a cheaper one. One we could easily transport ourselves."

Gingka chuckled. "Well I wouldn't know how to do that."

"Well I knew that." Yuki laughed.

"So does it work?" Gingka asked.

"That's what I have to find out." Yuki said. "But I don't have a way to test it."

"Yes you do." Gingka said.

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Gingka, I'm not sure these are safe enough for us to wear yet."

Gingka shrugged. "Well there's only one way to find out, isn't there? Plus, what's the worst case scenario?"

"Somebody could die."

"Well, we don't plan on that. I trust you." Gingka said.

"I'm not so sure." Yuki looked hesitant. "I'd still have to fine-tune it so that it could be controlled."

"And how are you going to do that without knowing what exactly needs to be fine-tuned, hmm?" Gingka said. "Look, we have to start somewhere. You don't have to be so cautious all the time."

"But if you get hurt it'll be my fault." Yuki said.

Gingka shrugged. "Nah. It'd be mine. I know the risks. But we have to have something to combat the Garcias' new toys, and right now this is the best idea we've got. So let's do it."

Yuki shook his head and chuckled. "You've got me there. Alright, fine, but you have to do exactly as I say, got it?"

"You're the scientist here." Gingka laughed. "Just tell me what to do and let's get this testing underway."

"Let me set up a camera first so we can record the testing and review it to see what needs to be done. Don't press any buttons."

"Got it." Gingka chuckled. "Although I could help you with the camera."

"Go stand in that wide open space over there." Yuki chuckled. "I had cleared it for testing before realizing I didn't have a way to actually test it."

"You mean you didn't want to risk hurting yourself."

"Well when I'm out here alone in the middle of the Amazon jungle and there's a strong potential for injury... Yes, I did not want to risk hurting myself." Yuki rolled his eyes.

"Aha." Gingka chuckled, walking over to the area that Yuki had indicated. "So what are we going to do to test it, anyway?"

"First I'm going to see if it can even lift you off the ground." Yuki said. "The idea is to know how much thrust we're going to need just for that."

"Okay." Gingka chuckled. "I suppose across-ocean testing will have to happen later."

"That's assuming I can find an internal fuel source. This is going to be a long process." Yuki sighed, grabbing a fire extinguisher and putting it within reach. "Ready?"

"Duh." Gingka chuckled."This should be interesting, at least."

Yuki chuckled. "Yeah. Hopefully nobody gets hurt."

"It's an experiment. We probably will at some point. We just have to minimize it." Gingka chuckled.

"Hence the fire extinguisher and bucket of water." Yuki chuckled.

Gingka saluted. "Ready when you are."

Yuki chuckled and helped Gingka get the bulky piece of metal onto his back. The redhead promptly fell over backwards with a startled yelp.

"It's heavy! Can this thing even lift itself off the ground?" Gingka asked as he tried to get up.

Yuki laughed. "You look ridiculous like that."

Gingka stopped trying to get up and glared. "Shut up and come help."

"You look like a turtle!" Yuki fell to the ground laughing hysterically.

Gingka groaned in annoyance before smirking mischievously. Before Yuki knew what was happening, he had been put in a headlock and was being tickled.

"H-hey! S-tooooppp!" The brunette yelped, struggling. Gingka merely laughed and released his friend.

"How did you get out of that so quickly?!" Yuki demanded.

"... It's sorta like a backpack. And the buckles aren't that hard to undo." Gingka said, pointing at the metal object, which was still laying on the ground.

"Hrmm… I should make them tougher to undo then but still with a safety release."

Gingka raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because they have to hold your full weight if you're being lifted into the air."

"They held the jetpacks' weight."

"You way more than those."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Shall we find out?"

"We may as well." Yuki chuckled. "We'll need to have these able to hold Aguma's weight though. He's probably the heaviest out of all of us."

"He is a big guy." Gingka laughed. "But not in a bad way."

Yuki chuckled. "Yeah."

"... I just remembered something." Gingka said.

"And that is?" Yuki asked.

"I told Dynamis that I'd call everyone from here once you were recovered."

"Well then we'd better get on that." Yuki chuckled. "Help me get this back up onto the table." He walked to the hunk of metal laying on the floor and began straining to lift it. Gingka helped, and soon the two had managed to get it back onto the work area.

"Off to call everyone then." Yuki panted, high-fiving Gingka before heading back upstairs with the redhead close behind.

"You sit down. Your injuries may have recovered but you're still not back at full strength. Just tell me what to do to initiate the call." Gingka said, forcing Yuki into a chair as they arrived in the main room.

"Well first you'll have to turn on the computer." Yuki said.

"And where's the button for that?" Gingka asked, peering under the desk.

"Should be right in front of your face. Literally." Yuki said.

"Oh, there it is." Gingka chuckled sheepishly as he turned on the computer, the giant screen lighting up.

"Now just call the same way as on your computer." Yuki chuckled.

Gingka nodded and clicked the correct icon, beginning the call. His eyes flashed across the screen as he added everyone else in, including Ryuga.

"I assume this is the group call we were told to expect?" Aguma said as he came up onscreen.

"Yep. Since Yuki has now been released from the hospital. We'll have to work together on this one for sure." Gingka said.

"What exactly is happening? Dynamis only told us that the Garcias were back." King said.

"And amassing an army. With weapons." Yuki said. "Apparently Gingka and Ryuga investigated a bit and found out that our beys may not be of much use against these weapons. The rules have changed."

"What do you mean the rules have changed? Can't we just swoop in, launch, and take them out like we usually do?" Kyoya growled.

"Not all people follow the rules. And this is definitely not a bey-based organization. They have bladers, yes, but it's what's behind the scenes that we need to stop. They'll probably try with bladers, and that we will let the bladers of the next generation deal with, but it's the other things we need to watch out for." Gingka said.

"Such as?" Aguma asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Weaponry." Ryuga spoke up suddenly with a growling grunt, causing a few of the others to jump in surprise.

"What he said." Gingka chuckled. "Ryuga and I managed to sneak inside once. We saw things that could be defeated with beys, but not if they were attacking the beys, and not in the numbers we saw them. Those weapons are undoubtedly meant to be used on people, and that included bladers who get in the way. If we attack with beys, they'll merely ignore our beys and use their firepower to shoot us down one by one."

"So we need something that can equal and surpass that. But we do not have an army." Aguma said. "And if they are as large as Gingka is saying, then we do not have time to gather one. We must act on our own."

"Yuki has an idea, if we can get it to work." Gingka said, gesturing to the seated blader behind him.

"We're all ears." King said, flashing one of his grins at the screen.

"Well, for a while now I have been trying to find a way for us to travel around without being restricted to flight schedules and costs. With the amount we travel, and the occasional urgency of needing to get somewhere, it'd be easier to be able to just leave without having to worry about finding a plane to suit when we need to leave. Gingka and I were talking about this just a little bit ago and we think that the idea I have, if I can get it to work, can be weaponized. If we can do that, then we should have a fighting chance."

"You act as if we don't right now." Kyoya huffed.

"Because from what I've seen, we don't." Gingka said. "I know that sounds weird coming from me, but our beys alone can't handle this one. We have to ne more creative, find other ways. We do it in the heat of battle all the time. We can do it here. I think Yuki's idea will work, if he can make it lighter." Gingka gave a pointed look at Yuki, who chuckled sheepishly.

"I sense a story behind this." Dynamis said calmly, crossing his arms and looking expectantly at Gingka and Yuki.

"Long story short, Yuki already has a prototype of this device, but it's heavy, and when we tried testing it earlier it was too heavy for me to hold up." Gingka said.

"He looked like a turtle." Yuki laughed.

"... This I want to see." Kyoya grunted with an amused smile.

"... That wasn't a necessary detail Yuki…" Gingka grumbled, embarrassed.

Yuki merely laughed. "I'll have to keep working on it."

"In the meantime, we should all be extra careful about keeping an eye out for any activity that might be DNA-related in our areas." Aguma said.

Gingka nodded, the embarrassed look on his face becoming replaced by a serious one. "We don't know how widespread they are. It wouldn't hurt to walk around and just take a look at things. Talk to some homeless people living in alleys, ask them about anything they've seen. People who are always around places like that tend to notice things."

"So you were listening when I explained that aspect of strategy." Aguma smirked.

Gingka chuckled. "I was also paying attention when you explained the value of pretending you're not paying attention to things. That got me about half of the information I now know about the Garcias' abilities with this organization they have created."

Aguma chuckled. "Good. I suppose we all know what to do and should begin working on it then."

"Yes." Gingka said.

"Be careful, everyone. We do not yet know how widespread this organization is. They may be watching us." Dynamis said.

"Well they can't watch me and Yuki. We'd know if they were watching us." Gingka said.

"We'll have to find a way to watch them and take them down." Kenta spoke up.

"We could infiltrate them and watch from the inside." King said.

"How?" Tithi asked, rocking back and forth slightly in his seat.

Yuki suddenly grinned. "Oh but that would be easy. Leave it to me guys. I have an idea."

"Care to explain this idea?" Gingka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The jetpacks. I could make them into a disguise as well."

"... How are you going to hide Gingka's hair with jetpacks?" Chris asked.

"You could burn it." Ryuga offered.

"Hey!" Gingka protested as several of the others fell out of their seats laughing.

"Ryuga, be nice." Kenta laughed.

"You can't make me, kid." Ryuga huffed.

"Wanna bet?" Kenta grinned.

"Now is not the time." Dynamis chuckled. "We all have work to do."

"Good luck guys. Seeya all later." Gingka chuckled, hanging up.

"Well then… Let's get to work." Yuki grinned.

* * *

 **Phew. Crazy stuff. Anyway, we're finally moving sorta into the main plotline, I think. Something like that. This story is being a difficult idiot to write sometimes and I think I have forgotten how I was going to end it. Ah well. I have a plot point to work towards, so hopefully there will not be any more long breaks like what just happened. Anyway, until next time, Galaxy out!**


	6. Burned

**I am late again. Oh well. Here's an update. I shall try to not be late for the rest of the story, although I have to admit that this one is being difficult to write. Oh well. I like the challenge. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Okay, I made it lighter so now you shouldn't be a turtle."

"Oh shut up. I did not look like a turtle."

"Did too."

"You have no proof."

"Oh don't I?" Yuki grinned mischievously as he helped Gingka get the now-slimmer metal contraption onto his back.

"... Wait, did you take pictures?!" Gingka looked slightly panicked. Yuki merely laughed and stepped away, towards the controls and 'anti-fire contraptions' as Gingka had named them after forgetting the term 'fire extinguisher' momentarily.

"No, you idiot." Yuki laughed. "Now stand still and don't point yourself towards any walls."

"What about the ceiling?" Gingka asked, looking up.

"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll be turning up the thrust slowly to lift you off the ground and I can shut it off before you hit the ceiling if needed. But if you lean forwards, then gravity will not be pulling against the thrust of the jetpacks and you'll go careening into something so for the sake of not making an enormous mess, stay upright."

Gingka saluted before grabbing onto the straps of the jetpacks and holding on as Yuki began the process to ignite the jetpacks that would hopefully lift Gingka into the air without incident.

"Alright, here we go. Starting the video." Yuki said as he went and turned on the camera. "Jetpack testing, attempt number one. Ready, Gingka?"

"As ready as I can be when I haven't the slightest clue whether or not this will work." Gingka chuckled. "Fire away."

"Very funny." Yuki chuckled. "Ignition in three, two, one."

With a rather noisy roar, the metal contraption on Gingka's back was shooting flames. Before Yuki even knew what had happened, Gingka let out a rather high-pitched shriek. Yuki froze and blinked in confusion as a bit of flames separated from the main part and ran off. The jetpacks began flying around in every direction, lighting several things on fire and smashing through a few things before Yuki had the time to react and slam his hands on the emergency shutoff switch.

"Gingka?" Yuki called, looking around but seeing no sign of the redhead. He glanced at the camera, which had been knocked over and was sparking. He extinguished the flames around the laboratory before exiting the room, wondering how and where Gingka had run off to so quickly, especially considering that he had apparently removed the jetpacks before making a quick exit.

"Gingka? Where'd you go? Are you alright?" Yuki called.

"GAHH STUPID PIRANHAS!"

"... Oh no…" Yuki muttered, sprinting towards the nearby river as fast as his legs could carry him. "Gingka!"

"AIEEEEEEE!" A blurred streak of red and blue rushed past Yuki, who sweatdropped and went back to the observatory, where he found Gingka sitting in the kitchen sink with a large blanket wrapped around him and the water running as cold as it could possibly be.

"Are you alright?" Yuki asked, trying to sound concerned rather than amused.

".. Next time… We need to make sure my butt doesn't get burned off." Gingka growled, glaring at Yuki, who had to bite his lip hard to keep himself from laughing at the redhead.

"Well, you're alright now, right?" Yuki said.

"You try getting lit on fire and then nearly bitten by piranhas!" Gingka said, half-pouting at the look of restrained amusement on Yuki's face.

"I'll go get some anti-burn stuff for you to put on that." Yuki chuckled, walking out. "You keep cooling off."

Gingka groaned in annoyance and pain and huddled deeper underneath the blanket.

"Here. This'll help it not sting." Yuki said, returning a few minutes later with a small tube of cream. "And I'll get to working on some fireproof something or other for future tests."

"You should have thought of that the first time." Gingka growled, snatching the cream and storming off, the blanket still wrapped tightly around him.

"Sorry." Yuki chuckled sheepishly, returning to the lab.

Three hours later, Yuki went back into the main area of the observatory, only to find Gingka laying on his stomach on the couch, his face buried in his arms.

"... Are you alright Gingka?" Yuki asked.

Gingka lifted his head slightly and glared angrily at Yuki.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Next time you can burn your butt instead." Gingka grumbled as he reburied his face in his arms.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes…" Gingka groaned. Yuki chuckled sheepishly and patted his friend's shoulder.

"You'll live."

"Well I'm not going to be helping you again anytime soon." Gingka grumbled. "I plan on staying right here until this burn stops stinging."

"That'll be a couple of days probably. Depends on how bad the burn is." Yuki said.

"Fantastic." Gingka said in the most sarcastic tone he could muster. "Any idea on piranha bites?"

"Wait, they actually bit you?!"

"One or two of them did." Gingka grumbled.

"You should have gone straight for the bathtub or sink first, rather than the Amazon." Yuki said.

"Well it seemed like the most available idea at the time." Gingka grumbled in a muffled tone, his face still buried in his arms.

"I can see that. Also the more dangerous."

"Hey, it put the fire out before the piranhas came." Gingka grumbled.

"I did have a hose and a fire extinguisher." Yuki said.

"Well my first instinct wasn't to remember that."

"Clearly."

"Just shut up and go do something sciencey."

Yuki chuckled. "Would the injured idiot like something to eat?"

Gingka lifted his head again and sent Yuki a death glare that even Ryuga would have likely been scared of. The brunette yelped at this and was out of the room in an instant. Gingka merely smirked and once more buried his face in his arms.

* * *

"Brilliant, Yuki." Yuki grumbled as he sat down in the computer room and spun in his chair for a few moments before blinking and turning to the screen as he heard a notification coming through the speakers.

"Dynamis?" The brunette blinked and quickly answered.

"Ahh, Yuki. I am glad you were available." Dynamis said.

"Yeah. Found anything?" Yuki said. "You don't normally call."

"I did. But if you could go get Gingka so I do not have to explain this more than once, please?"

"Gingka's, uh… A bit preoccupied at the moment." Yuki said.

"Did he eat himself into a food coma again? Dynamis asked.

"No- Wait, again?" Yuki blinked.

"Nevermind. If he is at all able to come, then please get him."

"He's a bit mad at me at the moment…" Yuki admitted sheepishly. "I think I'll let him cool off-both figuratively and literally- before I try to talk to him."

Dynamis raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Weeeeeeeeelllllll….." Yuki trailed off awkwardly.

"Is he alright?" Dynamis sounded slightly concerned.

"... We did our first test on the jetpacks today and I, uh… May or may not have forgotten that Gingka himself needed something to keep him from being lit on fire?"

Dynamis merely stared in surprise at Yuki for a few moments, his serene features filled with confusion.

"You… Lit Gingka on fire…?"

"And then he went and jumped into the Amazon and got bit by piranhas…" Yuki hung his head. "He's not too happy with me right now."

"I can imagine." Dynamis said. "Still, this is urgent."

"He'll be down for at least two days. Perhaps I can handle it. I can at least relay the message to him." Yuki said.

Dynamis nodded. "Please do."

"Fire away then."

* * *

"Are you sure this plan is going to work, Argo?"

"It has to. The Legendary Bladers haven't been seen in four years. Who knows where they are?"

"That's what I'm concerned about. They could be anywhere. How can you guarantee that they're not all together?"

"I cannot, but they cannot know about our little operation here. We're in too remote of a location."

"How can you be so sure? They have an annoying level of expertise at finding things, which was good when it came to Nemesis, but will be bad for us."

"Relax, Ian. They will not find out until it is too late. That is why this is called a secret base."

"But how can you be absolutely sure?!"

"Oh please. We have been here for a while already. Those idiots are probably off somewhere training, completely oblivious to our threat against them."

"If they find out we cannot keep them from destroying all of this."

"Hence why we cannot let them find out until it is too late for them to do anything about it. We will find their locations and pick them off one by one."

"There have been many people looking for them for years. What makes you so sure that we can do any better?"

"Oh, we will find them. As soon as we get the resources we will find them."

"How? They could be anywhere."

"I know. But we will find them."

* * *

"Gahh! Yuki! That hurts!"

"Relax! I was just trying to make sure you were warm enough, sheesh!"

"I'm fine! Now get that blanket off of me!"

"Okay, okay. Sheesh. You could cool off a bit."

"You could not light people on fire."

"Gingka, it was an accident. And you weren't seriously hurt."

Gingka merely growled. "It still stings really bad…"

"I know. But you refused the painkillers I have too so I can't really help you there."

Gingka groaned and buried his face in the couch. "Why couldn't you have just thought to give me something to prevent this…?" he said in a muffled tone.

"Look, I said I'm sorry. Now are you going to make this less pleasant by being a big baby about it or are you gonna chill out and just relax?"

"Hard to relax when you are stuck laying on your stomach. Not the most comfortable position to be in for a long period of time."

"Well, it's better than anything else apparently so quit whining." Yuki said.

Gingka grumbled something under his breath before falling silent.

"Dynamis said he found something." Yuki said, changing the subject.

"What is it?" Gingka asked, once more raising his head and looking at Yuki.

"Apparently he spotted an ad in response to the Garcias' one in the paper." Yuki said. 

"And?"

"It was asking for more details. None of the others posted it, but Dynamis said we should see if there's a response."

"... As if we get any newspapers out here."

"Yeah. But still, it is something we have to be sorta aware of at least."

Gingka looked thoughtful, bringing his hands up and resting his chin in them. "Who could have placed that?" he wondered aloud.

"Possibly someone who also noticed the rather unusual ad." Yuki said. "The Garcias only left a phone number to call for information, but apparently somebody wants a bit more than that."

"Apparently. I wonder if this sort of ad is appearing in any other newspapers. We should probably make sure. If they're recruiting from around the world then we need to know. If they're building an army then we need to move more quickly than we thought we did."

"Look at you sounding all serious about things again." Yuki chuckled.

"This is becoming more serious than before." Gingka said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "They're planning something big. And knowing them, it's not good. The bigger what they're planning is, the less good it is for us or anyone else."

"Okay, so do you have any plans on how to stop them?" Yuki asked.

"We'd have to know what they're doing. But this time, with what me and Ryuga found, just smashing in won't work. They'll be able to take us out easier than before. We probably can't count on them overestimating us, but we will not lose to them."

"So we take them down from the inside." Yuki said.

Gingka looked at Yuki and raised an eyebrow. "How would we manage that? We can't just sneak in without getting found out. Their security is too tight."

Yuki grinned. "What if we respond to their ad?"

Gingka looked intrigued. "Do you have a plan for that?"

"Well, they're looking for strength. The ad is more specifically talking about bladers, but if we see a response in that paper, then it means that they are watching for that sort of stuff. We can perhaps put out our own ad, something that would catch only their eye. Or we could simply call them and offer them something they cannot resist."

"Such as?"

"A weapon that they could not get their hands on otherwise." Yuki said. "But something convincing."

"I'm all ears." Gingka said.

"What if we gave them something that they would at least think could defeat us?"


	7. Determination

**I"m back with another update, once again a week later than I meant to be, but oh well. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure that this will work?"

"Gingka, I tested it by throwing it into the fireplace and it came out not even scorched. Everything you are wearing has been specially made to be completely fireproof."

Gingka still looked skeptical.

"Look, you're gonna be fine this time, alright?" Yuki said. "Now get ready. I'm starting the camera."

Gingka sighed and uncrossed his arms, grabbing onto the straps that were holding the jetpacks to his back once more.

"Jetpack testing attempt two." Yuki said. "Ignition in three, two, one."

Gingka closed his eyes, expecting the searing pain of flames to cross the back of his legs once again, but he felt nothing.

"Turning up the power. I told you you wouldn't get burned." Yuki said as Gingka looked down and back in surprise before grinning sheepishly.

"Stay upright. It shouldn't be hard." Yuki said as the flames grew more powerful. Gingka let out a quiet yelp as he was lifted off the ground, slowly rising upwards as Yuki gradually turned up the power.

"... This is weird." Gingka said, looking around and kicking his feet slightly as he found himself a good two feet above the ground.

Yuki chuckled. "Well, we know that it works. Now lean a tiny bit to the side. I want to see if you can control direction and move around."

Gingka nodded and shifted his weight to the left, beginning to slowly drift towards Yuki.

"So far so good. Turning power down." Yuki said as Gingka straightened and slowly dropped towards the ground.

"And shutoff." Yuki said, dropping Gingka the last few inches. The redhead stumbled forwards slightly and nearly fell over, chuckling.

"You alright?" Yuki asked, turning off the camera and walking over.

"That was… A little bit nerve-wracking." Gingka admitted.

Yuki chuckled. "Well, congratulations, you are the first to successfully use a pair of jetpacks. At least to my knowledge."

Gingka looked back. "If your plan is going to work, we'll need some sort of full suit. Right now I don't look like a robot."

Yuki chuckled. "I'm beginning plans for that. I also want to make these even slimmer, so that they don't get in the way."

"What if you could make them retract?" Gingka asked.

Yuki blinked. "As in slip back into something? There's too much inside them."

"But you're a brilliant mad scientist, remember?" Gingka grinned and ruffled Yuki's hair. "You'll think of something, I'm sure."

Yuki still looked skeptical. "We'll see. There are still physical limits to things. Plus, I also have to make these self-powered. Right now they're connected to this fuel line. I have to make their fuel source internal."

"Let me know if you need help. I'm going to call Dynamis and see if he's seen anything. We'll have to work quickly if this plan is going to work."

"Of course." Yuki said, nodding as Gingka left.

Gingka made his way to the computer room, still shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush that actual flying had caused. Sure, he hadn't really done much himself, but still, the experience had set his entire body on edge.

"This is going to take a lot of getting used to." The redhead muttered as he ascended the stairs into the room where Yuki's computer systems lay. He sat down in the chair and stared absentmindedly at the screen, thinking about what he and Yuki were about to do.

These battles had always been serious Keeping the world free from those who wanted to take it over and destroy it was always tricky, but this time, it was even more so. Gingka sighed and pulled Pegasus out of its carrying case at his side. holding it up to the light and smiling slightly at it.

"Looks like you and I can't solve this one with just our power this time, old buddy." Gingka said, once more admiring the gleaming edges of his bey.

Pegasus sparkled beautifully in the light of the room, Gingka turning it back and forth slightly simply to watch the silver edges gleam.

"It was all so simple when we were younger, wasn't it?" Gingka muttered. "It was always find them and then smash their plans to bits with all that we had in us. This time it's not quite like that. Our time to break through with all our power is coming to an end. Now, mere power will not be able to take away the threat. It's going to take much more than that this time, Pegasus."

The silver and blue bey gleamed as if responding to Gingka's words.

Gingka smirked slightly. "But we'll still win. We have to. We didn't give up when we fought Spiral Core or Nemesis. We've met all of Kyoya's challenges and come out on top. We've won a world championships and plenty of other tournaments. Rocks and snow couldn't beat us. The Garcias couldn't beat us back then, and they won't beat us this time either. Even if I'll be using more technology and tactics this time, you and I will still come out on top, together. And who knows? Perhaps I'll finally fulfill that promise to Madoka and ask her to marry me. I did promise to come back, after all. I just hope she hasn't fallen for someone else while I've been gone."

Gingka sat there for a few more moments before replacing Pegasus in its usual place at his side and standing, reaching for the computer with a new light of determination in his eyes. He and the others would succeed. They had to.

"Gingka. I see that you have recovered from the incident that Yuki told me about." Dynamis said as he came up onscreen.

"... Yeah. And thankfully he's come up with something to keep that from happening again. We had a successful test today." Gingka said, gaining a slight tick mark in annoyance at the memory of what had happened.

"Well that is good to hear. In the meantime, the Garcias' ad in the paper has disappeared. Whether this is due to the paper having a restriction on the amount of time they will print an ad or whether it is due to the Garcias removing the ad, I do not know."

Gingka frowned. "It's more likely to be the latter. That's not good. If they've removed their ads, then that likely means they have what they want, and our plan, in that case, may not work."

"We have a plan?" Dynamis raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It's gonna have to involve all of us hiding away though."

"The plan is to hide?" Dynamis raised an eyebrow. "You were never one to hide from a challenge, I thought."

"Well, let me explain." Gingka said. "We think that the best way to take them down would be from the inside. The only problem with that is getting in. Yuki's going to try to make me look like a robot that needs testing, and hopefully the Garcias will be willing to 'test' this robot. Essentially I'm going to be infiltrating them, but we need something that will convince them to take the bait."

"And for that, you want us to go into hiding?"

"We want to make them think that I can take out all of us." Gingka explained. "Because they know that they cannot beat us should we actually attack, or they'll at least be thinking that. But, if we claim to be giving them something that will take care of us for them, then they will be a lot more likely to take the bait."

"Especially if you were to threaten making the same offer to us." Dynamis said.

Gingka blinked. "You mean that they'd be more likely to take it if they think that them not taking it means we get it?"

"Precisely." Dynamis said. "Because obviously, we would have quite the motivation to own something that would be able to take us out, and they wouldn't want us to have that much power in our hands."

Gingka crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. "I had not thought of that."

"Well that's because you're one of the idiots of the group."

Gingka gained a tick mark. "Hey!"

Dynamis chuckled. Tithi could be heard laughing hysterically in the background at this.

"It's not that funny, Tithi!" Gingka called.

Dynamis chuckled. "Relax. I was merely joking."

"That's a new one for you, Dynamis." Tithi said as he came within the camera's view. "Hey Gingkie!"

"Hey Tithi." Gingka shook his head in both amusement and annoyance. "Any more brilliant ideas, Dynamis?"

"If you are going to say that you can take us out, we have to make the evidence of it quite definite." Dynamis said. "And we cannot let anyone outside of our group know about it."

"That won't be hard." Gingka said. "We can group call and make sure that only the Legendary Bladers are within earshot of the conversation. We can all keep secrets."

"Yes." Dynamis said. "It will be harder for those who are not in such remote locations as Tithi and I are, however. He and I can lose ourselves in the maze of the mountain for quite some time and not be found. However, King may have a harder time simply disappearing. The same would go for Aguma."

Gingka nodded. "We'll figure that out with them directly. I've already disappeared, since Yuki called me here. I left without giving any notice to anyone in Koma."

Dynamis nodded. "The rest of us would have to do so as well. However, it must be timed correctly. And, as they would want to take out all nine, excluding Ryuga, who is still thought to be dead as far as I know, we have to create evidence of you disappearing without you being there to disappear in the first place."

Gingka narrowed his eyes in thought. "Now that's quite the puzzle."

"I have an idea for that." Yuki said, entering.

"Fire away then." Gingka said.

"Well, we have to convince them that our claims are true. So, Gingka's disappearance is the proof." Yuki said.

"And how are we going to make that work?" Gingka asked.

"You could temporarily lock up Gingka and show them him there." Dynamis said.

"But then how would we be able to use him to pretend that he locked himself up?" Yuki asked.

"Say that the robot is elsewhere." Gingka said. "Make a false base, lock me up in some sort of cell, but leave a secret door for me to get out and slip into whatever suit that it is that you make. Show me to the Garcias, convince them that I am better kept at that secret base for the moment, rather than their base, and then lead them off to show them the 'robot' that did it. Once they're out of visual range of me, I slip out, sneak around the back, and switch identities."

"But how do you get them to trust Yuki?"

"He's quite the mad scientist already. Just gotta disguise him so that he doesn't look like himself." Tithi said.

Gingka and Dynamis looked at their younger comrade and nodded.

"I can whip up my own disguise. Leave that to me." Yuki said.

"You have to make the 'robot' though." Gingka said. "Someone else should handle the disguise."

"Who then?" Dynamis asked.

"Depending on what, I can probably handle that." Gingka said. "Just tell me what I should get."

Yuki nodded. "I guess I'll let you handle it then."

"Let us know when we need to disappear and we will." Dynamis said.

"Will do." Gingka said.

"Good luck." Tithi said, waving.

"Thanks." Yuki replied, cutting off the connection.

"Did you figure out anything?" Gingka asked, turning to his comrade.

"Started to. Then decided to come up here so I'd be in the loop." Yuki joked.

"I would have told you anything important." Gingka said.

"Well I think I found a good alternate fuel source." Yuki said.

"Oh? One we can easily replace without it costing too much?"

Yuki nodded. "Yeah. And it won't be as hot."

"I'm always for less heat."

"I can't imagine why." Yuki joked.

Gingka rolled his eyes. "That was still your fault."

"Perhaps. But the piranhas were your fault." Yuki said.

"Again, the Amazon was the first thing that came to mind." Gingka said.

"I know, I know." Yuki chuckled. "But still. You keep forgetting about piranhas. You need to get it into your mind that they are there so that you don't go jumping in at the worst times."

"Oh, just shut up about the piranhas." Gingka grunted, throwing the nearest object at Yuki, who laughed and dodged.

"Fine, fine. I can take a hint."

"You'd better." Gingka grumbled, walking off.

* * *

 **I may or may not post another chapter tonight or tomorrow, depending on whether or not I can get it done. Anyway, enjoy! Galaxy out!**


	8. Name

**The one time I have a chapter done early and I forget to post at my usual time because of crazy random stuff going on. Anyway, enjoy! Hopefully going back to school again in two days doesn't mess up my updating schedule again. I've missed enough updates as it is.**

* * *

"Gingka, hold still.

"What, this isn't still?"

"Well, considering that you keep twisting your body around trying to see what I'm doing despite the fact that I'm telling you what I'm doing, no. Now hold still so that I don't mess up with these measurements. It'll cost a lot of money to enlarge or shrink the suit if I don't get it right the first time and we really don't have that money, or that time, for that matter."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Holding still." Gingka chuckled in amusement.

"Thank you." Yuki sighed in exasperation as he quickly noted down the measurements he needed.

"Is that all you needed me for today?" Gingka asked. "Nothing else to like, test or anything?"

"I can't have you test anything for me until I've built something to be tested."

"The jetpacks still aren't ready?"

"I'm waiting for the fuel to come in still." Yuki sighed. "And I needed to start on the rest anyway if we're going to have this finished in time."

"Ahh. I see. Need any help?"

"I'll let you know."

"Fiiine." Gingka whined.

"Is someone bored?" Yuki chuckled.

"... Yes." Gingka grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Then think fast!" Yuki threw a small object at Gingka, who yelped as he was hit squarely in the forehead.

"Ow! Hey! Not nice!" The redhead whined, rubbing his forehead and pouting.

"No seriously, how did you end up in charge?" A growling voice said. Gingka and Yuki turned to the doorway in surprise.

"Ryuga? What brings you back here?" Gingka asked, surprised at seeing the Dragon Emperor.

"I figured you two would be up to something idiotic so I just thought I'd drop by and make sure nobody's getting their butt lit on fire… Again." Ryuga grunted, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway with a knowing smirk as Gingka and Yuki gained rather embarrassed and surprised looks.

"... How did you know about that?" Gingka asked slowly.

"Oh please, Hagane. I could hear your girly squealing all the way from the set of ruins a few thousand feet away through the forest." Ryuga smirked.

Gingka hung his head in embarrassment.

"Okay, so you know I lit Gingka on fire by accident. Still, no offense, but you never cared before. Why now?" Yuki said.

Ryuga closed his eyes and looked away. "Little bit of a long story that you probably already know half of. Now, since none of you bothered giving me the information or a way of finding it before, I came back to ask nicely for once."

"Huh?" Gingka and Yuki looked at Ryuga in confusion.

Ryuga looked back at them, his golden eyes gleaming menacingly. "Back then, when you were all fighting Nemesis, do you remember what I said before I supposedly died?"

"... You mean when you gave your Star Fragment to Kenta and made him the Summer blader?" Gingka asked.

"Precisely." Ryuga said, looking away and to the ceiling above. "As much as I hate to admit this, the kid managed to actually change my mind about the whole teamwork thing, and apparently I have had over six years to think about it while apparently unconscious, drifting wherever I was."

"So in other words, Kenta succeeded where we failed to convince you." Gingka said. "And that's why you joined up so willingly, even if you are still a bit of a loner."

"Yeah…" Ryuga grumbled, looking pointedly away, as if embarrassed.

Gingka chuckled and walked over, slapping Ryuga on the back and causing the white-haired blader to glare and growl at him.

"Welcome aboard, Ryuga." Gingka chuckled, somehow managing to put Ryuga into a headlock and ruffling his hair before letting him go and leaping out of harm's way as Ryuga threw a punch at him.

"I said I was joining up with you, I did NOT say that we are automatically friends." Ryuga growled. "So don't touch me."

"Gingka, no.." Yuki said warningly, spotting the gleam of challenge in Gingka's eye before he walked over and poked Ryuga in the forehead.

"What, like this?"

"We're doomed." Yuki said, diving for cover behind a nearby table as Ryuga snarled at Gingka, who merely laughed it off and stepped past Ryuga.

"Better keep up, Ryuga. I've already surpassed you." Gingka stated.

"Not for long." Ryuga growled, pouncing on the redhead, who yelped in surprise.

"Rivals will be rivals." Yuki sweatdropped as he watched from behind the relative safety of the table. "Maybe I should just let them wrestle. At least it'll keep Gingka occupied."

"You asked for it, Hagane!" Ryuga snarled as he threw punch after punch at Gingka, who twisted himself to the side and somehow managed to dodge.

"Well you're quick, I'll give you that." Ryuga grunted.

"Couple of years of training at Beylin Temple and similar places on and off, yeah, I've picked up some dodging skills." Gingka said, throwing a punch back, only for Ryuga to catch it and send him stumbling back.

"Dodging isn't everything in a fight. You should know that, Hagane." Ryuga growled, ducking under one of Gingka's punches and neatly knocking the redhead flat on his back with a solid kick before pinning him.

Gingka looked annoyed. "That's just not fair."

"No, it's perfectly fair. You just don't know any hand-to-hand combat other than dodging, which is not combat." Ryuga smirked.

Gingka narrowed his eyes and tried to punch Ryuga, but the white-haired blader put a foot on his wrist and prevented this.

"Alright, lemme up." Gingka growled after glaring at Ryuga for a few minutes.

"I have to beat you at something if I can no longer beat you at Beyblade… For now. You had better be ready the moment we get the chance to battle, Hagane." Ryuga said, letting Gingka up.

Gingka smirked. "You know I'll be ready. Come at me anytime."

Ryuga chuckled. "In the meantime, you can tell me where Kenta is."

"You coulda just asked earlier." Gingka chuckled, leading the way to the computer room once more. "I can tell you where he is, assuming he hasn't moved from his usual post."

"Oh, so you all sit around in one area and just do nothing all the time?" Ryuga grunted.

"Yes and no. We do travel to train sometimes, but we have figured out that it's easier to discover bad guys if we have eyes all over the world, even if there are only nine-with you ten- of us." Gingka said, pulling up the map. "And we have a system that we can all check into to track each other, just in case one of us disappears."

"I must admit that the level of growth here is mildly impressive." Ryuga grunted, eyeing his rival.

"Still haven't gotten used to a six-year difference between now and the last time you were awake?" Gingka chuckled.

Ryuga scowled. "I'm fine."

"Anyway, you probably already know that we're here," Gingka pointed at Anubis's symbol on the map, "And Kenta is over here." He moved his finger, indicating Sagittario's symbol. "And since I see that his is lit, it means he did check in this morning indicating that he was staying in his usual position."

"I see." Ryuga grumbled. "I suppose I will be heading over there then."

"Call us when you get there."

"And why should I do that?" Ryuga grunted, turning to leave.

Gingka reached out and put a hand on Ryuga's shoulder. "Because even if we're rivals, I do consider you a friend, and you're definitely a comrade. I just want to make sure you got halfway across the world in one piece." He flashed one of his usual friendly grins at Ryuga, who shrugged his hand off and growled at him in annoyance.

Gingka chuckled. "Six years later, you've joined forces with us, but you're still the same old Ryuga as ever."

Ryuga paused and smirked. "Well, if I weren't the same person, then who would be around to kick your idiotic butt when needed?"

Gingka laughed. "Hey, hey now. I'm not that much of an idiot."

"Yet the last time I was here you had to be shown how to turn on the computer." Ryuga chuckled tauntingly as he walked off.

"... Man, why does everyone keep bringing that stuff up?" Gingka grumbled.

"Because even if you are older and stronger now, you are still an idiot." Ryuga called from down the hallway.

"Ever heard of a rhetorical question?" Gingka called back.

Ryuga poked his head back into the room with a playful, taunting smirk. "I'm surprised you know that word, Hagane. It's rather complicated."

Gingka sweatdropped and glared at Ryuga. "Would you just shut up?"

Ryuga smirked and left. Gingka growled under his breath and turned back to the computer, eyeing the various icons on it calmly, as if making sure that they were all there still. He pondered for a few minutes whether or not he and his friends, a small force of ten compared to the hundreds the DNA undoubtedly had by now, could even manage this battle. It sure seemed to be a formidable opponent this time. Then again, the opponents they had faced had always seemed formidable.

Gingka smirked slightly as he remembered how scary Nemesis had seemed while they were fighting it. Now that that incident, that crisis, was in the past, it seemed almost like it had been nothing to ever worry about in the first place. Gingka decided with increased determination that this battle, this new potential crisis, would be no different.

"Who cares what the odds are, anyway?" Gingka muttered, smirking as he scanned over the various icons once more. "We have all of the best allies right here, available at the touch of a fingertip. Odds never stopped any of us. We won the others. We'll win this one too. No problem."

Gingka paused for a moment, pondering the pep talk he had just given himself. He knew the stakes here. They were what they had always been; win and have the world safe from harm for another few years, or lose and watch everything go downhill very quickly.

Gingka reached for the nearest chair and sat down, leaning his elbows on the desk and pressing his fingertips against the lower part of his face, golden-brown eyes narrowing slightly in thought.

"What happens if we do lose?" He wondered silently. Obviously, much, if not all, hope would be lost. The Garcias would probably take over the world and who knew what they would do with it after that. Considering their new weaponry, Gingka figured that it wouldn't be surprising if he and the others were killed in front of the world. Horrified at the thought of this, Gingka shook his head and stood, leaning over and gripping the edge of the desk in front of him.

"We will not lose… We can't." Gingka raised his head and looked up at the icons on the screen once more. "You guys hear that? We can't lose this. We will win. We always will win, because we know what could happen if we lose and we don't want that to happen."

"Gingka? Who are you talking to?" Yuki asked, coming up into the computer room.

"... Myself." Gingka said, turning away from the screen.

"Not the first time I've caught you doing that." Yuki chuckled. "But you are right. We can't lose. And we won't. We just have to keep one step ahead of the Garcias."

"I'm pretty sure they're already several steps ahead of us right now." Gingka said.

"Not for long. I'm making good progress on the suit." Yuki replied. "But, we do need to give it some sort of official name."

"I feel like we're in a spy movie." Gingka admitted.

"Oh?" Yuki looked at him curiously.

"Yeah. Limited time to save the world, sneaking around, infiltration. Pretty classic spy stuff. I feel like our little operation here should have a name."

Yuki chuckled. "Perhaps if you name the suit you can name the 'operation'after it. We almost are a sort of spy agency, come to think of it. I mean, even though we were sorta fooling around at the beginning, we did officially name our little group here."

"The Legendary Blader's Network." Gingka chuckled. "We weren't very creative with that name, were we?"

"Well it does fit what we do." Yuki chuckled.

"Legendary Bladers, check. Network all over the world with crazy communications systems designed by one Yuki Mizusawa, check. Yep, fits." Gingka joked.

Yuki rolled his eyes. "Can we get back on the task at hand please?"

"Oh, I thought you were just coming up here to goof off." Gingka grinned.

"Let me know if you come up with any sort of name ideas." Yuki laughed. "We need to tell the Garcias something that sounds at least remotely cool and memorable."

"Alright, I'm on it." Gingka said, turning off the computer and following Yuki back down to his lab.

"So where did Ryuga go?" Yuki asked.

"He went to go see Kenta." Gingka replied.

"Ahh. But of course. Kenta is the one who did most of the work towards Ryuga actually joining us."

"Yeah." Gingka said. "I suppose we really owe him one for that."

"Probably. We'll worry about that later though." Yuki said.

"Yeah. After we've finished with the Garcias."

"So, name ideas?"

"I can't come up with something that quickly, Yuki. Do you at least have any sort of idea in mind of what you want?"

"Well, considering that you'll be the pilot, I think it should perhaps have something to do with you." Yuki replied. "Like a code name, if we're going to continue pretending we're in a spy movie."

Gingka chuckled. "Something to do with me, huh?" He leaned against the wall, looking thoughtful.

"But don't make it too obvious. If we go around calling you Pegasus, then we may as well be telling the Garcias that it's you there and not a robot." Yuki said as he got to his work table and resumed working.

Gingka crossed his arms and stared at the ceiling for a few moments before closing his eyes.

"Something that describes me, yet is still not too obvious… Hmm… But what? What single word or phrase can I come up with that does that? I suppose I should start with Pegasus." Gingka thought, trying to focus despite a few clattering noises from Yuki's direction. Subconsciously, he moved his right hand and rested it on the carrying case inside which his bey lay, waiting for the call to battle.

"Lightning… Speed… Flying… Soaring… Feathered wings spread to their fullest in flight… Hmm… Flight… No matter where or what the conditions… Wind… Rain… Lightning… A storm… Perhaps…..Special moves… Storm Bringer… Cosmic Nova… No… Not quite… Lightning Strike Storm…. Storm… Pretty descriptive sometimes… Flying through a storm… Flight… Storm… Ahh… Yes. That's it."

Gingka opened his eyes and stepped away from the wall with an excited grin.

"Got something?" Yuki raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I do." Gingka replied, turning to look at him with a slight blue glow behind his eyes.

"Well?" Yuki raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Stormflight."


	9. Test

**Yay for updating on time! Barely, since I did have to write the rest of the chapter today, but on time! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Yuki. Let's do this."

Yuki chuckled as his redheaded comrade sent an excited grin in his direction.

"Activating all systems. Standby for full activation of the Stormflight system. Seriously though, how did you come up with that name?"

Gingka shrugged, an excited gleam in his eye as he stood calmly in the center of the platform Yuki had built for testing. It had been a mere two weeks since the piece of technology currently attached to Gingka's torso had been given an official name, and now it was only a matter of minutes until 'Stormflight' sprung to life out of the folded up position it was currently in. Or, at least that was what Yuki was hoping would happen.

After the incident with the first jetpack test, Yuki had been more than cautious in his attempts to keep Gingka from further harm. Aside from the fact that the redhead was one of his closest friends, Yuki knew the dangers his technology presented to Gingka's body, perhaps even life, should something go wrong. Despite Gingka's regular reassurances that everything would go fine and that he still trusted Yuki to build something safe, Yuki remained hesitant. The past two weeks had been spent extensively testing every single aspect, every tiny possible detail of the jetpack and helmet combination. Now, Yuki found himself with no more excuses to keep himself from letting Gingka fully test the system at last.

Gingka, as he stood with the contraption attached to his body, couldn't have been more excited than if he had found that Madoka was unexpectedly coming to see him. Well, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration. Gingka would rather see Madoka than test something new and exciting any day. But right now, the fastest way to see Madoka again was to finish off the Garcias before they could try anything that would threaten the world.

"Systems finished warming up." Yuki said. "Are you-"

"Yuki, you've asked me at least twenty times if I'm ready." Gingka laughed. "It'll be fine, just go for it and let's see what this contraption of yours can do."

"Very well then." Yuki sighed, a hint of hesitation in his voice as he pressed the remote buttons that would order the technology to fully activate.

At first, all went perfectly well. Gingka, heeding a previous warning from Yuki, stood perfectly still despite the sudden cold metal sliding up and around his face, leaving him in near-darkness.

"How does it feel?" Yuki called.

"... Well, I can barely hear you." Gingka said, wincing as his voice echoed right back into his own ears. "Not to mention it's really loud in here."

"Okay, noted." Yuki said. "Anything else?"

"I can barely see through these goggles. If this is going to work I'm going to need way more visibility."

Yuki nodded and frowned as he noted this on his clipboard. "I was wondering about that. Any ideas?"

"Well maybe use a larger piece of glass, so that I can see more." Gingka said.

"That probably wouldn't work a ton better." Yuki said. "Keeping the glass so that it can't be seen through from the outside is important."

"So that the Garcias think I'm a robot, right." Gingka nodded.

"Yeah." Yuki frowned in thought.

"I mean, I can only see straight forwards. That's going to be a huge problem."

"I wonder… If we rounded the eyepiece and put cameras inside… Then made a surround-faced screen for you to see everything almost normally?"

"That sounds like it would work but would also hurt my eyes." Gingka said.

"True, true. But there's gotta be some way to make it work."

"We may as well try it. That's probably the best way. We should also include some sort of night vision. If it gets too dark I won't be able to see at all with how much you tinted these lenses." Gingka said.

"Right. Shutting down then." Yuki said.

"But we haven't tested the jetpacks yet." Gingka said.

"We can't test them without you being able to see where you're going." Yuki said. "The controls are all in that contraption now. You'd be activating and shutting off the jetpacks and if you can't see when you're about to crash into something then we can't test them."

"... Point taken." Gingka said.

"Alright then, let's get these off of you and I'll get to work on that." Yuki sighed, pressing a few buttons and causing the entire thing to unfold.

"Anything I can help with?" Gingka asked, blinking and squinting slightly at the sudden change in light amount.

"Maybe. I'll call you if I discover anything you can help with."

"You said that last time."

"There was nothing you could help with."

"You sure about that?" Gingka asked, raising an eyebrow as he began removing the technology from his body with Yuki's help.

"Yep. Positive. Why are you suddenly so interested in helping?" Yuki asked, looking up at his friend as he helped him with the contraption.

"Because I'm bored…" Gingka admitted sheepishly. "I can't find anything else to do around here."

"I see." Yuki chuckled. "I'll work quickly then. For one thing, because we need to get to infiltration as soon as possible, before it's too late, and for another, because you're bored."

"Thank you." Gingka chuckled. "I'll just go occupy myself in the kitchen or something."

"Uh, no, you can occupy yourself anywhere but the kitchen or the Amazon." Yuki said.

"... But I'm hungry."

"But last time you were in the kitchen you broke the sink."

"... My butt was on fire and it was better than the Amazon."

"I was referring to the turkey incident."

"That thing was huge!"

"You tried to hang it from the faucet."

"Well yeah. You said not to let it touch the sides of the sink."

"No I didn't."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

Yuki rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go play some computer game or something."

"... I only know how to call people on there." Gingka grumbled.

Yuki facepalmed. "How could I forget that you were from a village with practically no technology?"

Gingka looked extremely sheepish. "Hey, I got most of my blading skills growing up there."

"I know." Yuki laughed. "But you still don't know how to use a computer."

"Barely… I barely know how to use one. I can turn it on and I can call the others."

Yuki laughed, "Precisely. We'll have to work on that."

Gingka hung his head, embarrassed.

"Why don't you just go call someone?" Yuki laughed. "It'll at least be something to do other than polish Pegasus."

"... Which I was doing for an hour before you called me down here." Gingka admitted.

Yuki chuckled. "Come get me in an hour and I'll get us some lunch."

"Okay." Gingka chuckled, walking off towards the computer room and leaving Yuki to work.

Yuki sighed as Gingka left. Honestly, he would prefer to not have Gingka infiltrate the Garcias' organization. He would rather send an actual robot. But an actual robot would take too long, and having a human being in there who could think (hopefully) was a much better option. However, Yuki knew that this task would be dangerous, and although that had never fazed Gingka, Yuki hoped that nothing would happen.

With all of the other things Gingka had faced, Yuki knew that the redhead was no stranger to dangerous situations. If something had to be done to stop someone, Gingka would do it no matter what the danger. Yuki had seen that much in many situations. This time, he was sure, would be no different. However, this time, it seemed that the bad guys wouldn't be using only beys. Beys were usually nonlethal, although Yuki was sure they could be used as lethal weapons.

The Nemesis Crisis had killed many simply from the natural disasters before it was stopped. Luckily for the world, it HAD been stopped. Yuki was proud to have been a part of stopping it. Now he was going to help Gingka and the others stop this threat. Whatever the Garcias were planning, it would be stopped. If Yuki and Gingka had anything to say about it, it would be stopped before it ever started. It would be nice to have that happen for once, Yuki figured.

* * *

"Gingka. To what do I owe your call?"

"Partially because I'm bored and partially because we need to figure out how to make it look like I kidnapped you guys as the robot. We don't want to stage some big street fight every time but if we leave the evidence correctly, then it'll work."

"Agreed." Dynamis said, nodding slightly and pressing his fingertips together in thought. "And strategy will have to change depending on the terrain. Perhaps we should call Aguma as well."

"He is the better strategist. Hang on." Gingka said, adding Aguma into the call.

"Do you have any idea what time it is over here when you call me?" Aguma grumbled sleepily as he came up onscreen.

"Not really." Gingka admitted sheepishly. "But now that I think about it it's around midnight there, isn't it?"

"Later than. Why are you calling?" Aguma asked.

"We need your strategizing skills." Dynamis informed him.

"For?" Aguma crossed his arms.

"To make it look like you and the others were kidnapped." Gingka said. "Got any ideas?"

"That will vary depending on terrain." Aguma said. "For Dynamis and Tithi, it would be best for them to simply disappear. With me, the best thing would likely be to make it look like someone broke in. Leave evidence of a struggle, perhaps break something. Or come and actually kidnap us."

"That would work best, probably." Dynamis said. "It would look more real, especially if someone came in. We could merely struggle for a bit, and then let ourselves be taken out of any sight before simply disappearing."

"Where would we disappear to?" Gingka asked.

"Somewhere nobody knows to look." Dynamis said.

"Yuki's observatory." Aguma said. "It's hidden. Nobody knows where it is and nobody will go looking in the Amazon for someone who disappeared on another continent."

Gingka nodded. "Especially not out here. It's very hard to penetrate this forest. And I assume that the Garcias will want to know most things that I do, such as where you actually are. I expect that they'll order me to kidnap you guys too, because you're the rest of the threat to them. Most other bladers aren't that much of a threat, they'll be ready for them. It'll make my alias more convincingly real."

"Precisely." Aguma said. "Therefore you cannot fail to kidnap us. Hopefully King and Kyoya can get that into their heads."

"They have become a lot more cooperative over these past few years." Gingka chuckled. "Especially King. He really likes the whole network thing."

"So I have heard. If that is all, I am going to bed now." Aguma said gruffly.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry Aguma. Go ahead. Sleep well." Gingka said, nodding.

Aguma grunted and left the call.

Dynamis chuckled. "He is quite the grumpy person when woken up, is he not?"

"Yeah." Gingka laughed. "Then again, we all are."

Dynamis nodded. "Yes. Nobody likes to be woken up in the middle of a good nap."

"Especially not Aguma. Or Kyoya, for that matter." Gingka chuckled and shook his head.

"Quite so." Dynamis agreed. "You should know something, Gingka."

"And that is?" Gingka asked.

"I have been seeing some rather suspicious scouts around lately. They seem to have a uniform on, but I know that it is not the same person. I suspect that they may work for the Garcias."

"Hmm… What could they be…" Gingka paused, his eyes widening. "They could be looking for you and the others."

Dynamis nodded. "We should likely warn them. Especially those who are in more public places."

"You mean King, right?"

"And Kenta." Dynamis reminded. "Kenta was last stationed right in the heart of Tokyo."

"Right." Gingka sighed. "And Ryuga was on his way there."

"They should be able to fight back rather easily." Dynamis said. "Ryuga is powerful, and he and Kenta combined would be a force to be reckoned with."

"True. We all are that on our own." Gingka said. "But these guys may not be fighting with beys, remember?"

"Do not worry about it, Gingka." Dynamis advised. "Worry about what you and Yuki are working on. I will warn the others about the potential threat."

Gingka nodded. "Alright, I will. Be careful, Dynamis. I don't want anything happening to you guys that is outside of our plan."

"We will all be fine." Dynamis said, nodding. "I should go. I hear Tithi calling me from somewhere in the ruins, meaning he probably fell down a trapdoor."

Gingka chuckled. "He's still learning his way around then?"

"Yes." Dynamis chuckled. "And now I must go rescue him. See you later, Gingka."

"Yeah. Seeya." Gingka said, becoming thoughtful as Dynamis ended the call.

"If they're beginning to move… Then we have less time than we thought."

* * *

 **Dun dun duuun. Random ideas to flesh out plots. Yay me. This might be the second to last chapter but I am not sure I can finish it that quickly. We shall see. I will know by next weekend's update, hopefully. I think this story's starting to drag out a bit and get less interesting and lower quality. I plan on fixing that trend in my most recent writing with my next story. Anyway, I may as well give a teaser. Go look up the song (Or at least the lyrics) "More Than it Seems" by Kutless. That song is involved slightly in my next project. Until next time, Galaxy out!**


	10. Completion

**I'm back! I'm a week late, but I'm back and I am going to try to double update! This is the second to last chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Yuki!"

Yuki looked up in surprise as Gingka raced down into the lab, a tone of urgency in his voice and face.

"Gingka? Is something wrong?"

"I just talked to Dynamis and apparently he has been seeing increased enemy activity. Scouts in uniforms. He thinks they may be working for the Garcias and if they're in his area, then the Garcias may already be looking to take us out. They're making their move. It's about time that we made ours."

"Good thing I already had several parts laying around. If we work together on this overnight, we could have the changes that you mentioned made by morning, noon tomorrow at the latest."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Tell me what to do." Gingka said.

Yuki pointed to a large box in the corner. "I have all sorts of different camera parts over there, leftover from when we put security and spy cameras around the Garcias' base and those other locations. Find the smallest ones in there and bring them over here. I already have part of the wiring in place for them and I'll get working on a display screen."

"On it." Gingka darted over to the box and opened it, peering inside at the different labels.

Yuki turned back to his worktable and put his safety goggles back on, grabbing a small welder and turning it on, then using it to connect two wires, one of which was in the back of the mask that was laid out in front of him.

"These?" Gingka asked, coming over with a small box of nearly microscopic objects.

"Yeah, thanks." Yuki said. "I'll start putting these together. You mind running upstairs and getting some sort of lunch made? I think we still have some leftovers from yesterday that you can just heat up for a couple of minutes."

"On it." Gingka said, darting off before Yuki could detail any further what needed to be done.

"Well he's got enthusiasm." Yuki chuckled under his breath as he began connecting cameras and lenses to the inside of the metal face.

By the time Gingka returned with lunch nearly an hour and a half later, Yuki was lining the inside of the helmet with sound absorbing materials, having finished and tested construction of the eyepieces on the helmet.

"What took you so long?"

"Uhh… I think I broke the microwave." Gingka said. "It… Might have sorta… Exploded."

Yuki animefell out of his chair, nearly dragging everything on the table with him. Gingka looked sheepish, hanging his head slightly and turning red.

"You… Blew up… The microwave…?" Yuki said slowly as he got back up.

"... Apparently so." Gingka said. "But I did find stuff to make sandwiches, which luckily don't require a microwave."

"As long as you didn't try to pan fry them again."

"... That was one time!"

"You set half the kitchen on fire."

"Once!"

"It took us three weeks to repair and delayed construction on our secret network."

"But nobody got hurt!"

"Kyoya pummeled you into the ground because his hair got lit on fire while you were trying to put the fire out."

"... Nobody else got hurt."

"Kenta nearly died when the ceiling caved in."

Gingka facepalmed. "He got a gash on his arm and that was it!"

"You told Tithi to take care of him when Tithi was already in full panic mode and couldn't think straight, so Kenta nearly bled to death. Seriously, did you actually forget this?"

"... Well I was unconscious after Kyoya threw me into the wall."

"Actually he threw you into the fridge."

Gingka threw up his hands in exasperation. "Well nobody died!"

"Kenta nearly did."

"That doesn't count since he's still alive." Gingka grumbled.

Yuki chuckled and took a bite out of his sandwich, only to pause for a moment before making a disgusted face and spitting it back out. He looked over at Gingka, who had already finished his sandwich and was setting the empty plate aside.

"Gingka, what did you put in that thing?!" Yuki demanded.

"Should be peanut butter and jelly, why?" Gingka asked, turning to Yuki confusedly.

"... I think you used mustard instead of peanut butter." Yuki gagged.

"... I thought that peanut butter smelled off." Gingka said in a sheepish tone.

Yuki groaned. "I don't know how you ate that…"

"... I ate it too quickly to taste it." Gingka chuckled. "But hey, in my defense, you did put the mustard in a peanut butter jar after I accidentally broke the mustard jar."

Yuki turned away, grumbling something under his breath as Gingka took the rather disgusting sandwich back up to the kitchen. Honestly, as Yuki thought about it, he worried whether Gingka could pull this off. The redhead had always seemed to be smart in only one topic: beyblading. Everything else seemed to be out of his grasp in one way or another. Especially technology and cooking. And the former was what Gingka was going to have to pretend to be if this was going to work. If the act was not flawless, who knew what could happen? The stakes were high, and growing higher by the second.

Yuki took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew that he was going to just have to trust Gingka with this. Despite the redhead's apparent stupidity, he had a certain brilliance about him when it really counted. Yuki just hoped that this same trait would carry over to this mission. If it did not, then at least their lives, and perhaps those of the whole world, were doomed.

Yuki sighed and shook his head, pushing the worry out of his mind and focusing at the task at hand. If he did not finish the task at hand, then the world was definitely doomed. Well, perhaps not doomed. There were others who could fight, but the Legendary Bladers were the first line of defense against this sort of threat, so to speak. This was especially true when one factored in that they knew more about this threat than anyone else. As a matter of fact, they were likely the only ones who knew that the threat even existed. That was why they had to take it down before it grew bigger. That was why they had to stop it before it was strong enough to make the attempt. And they would.

Yuki smirked in his newfound determination as he began slotting all of the pieces back together. He would get this done. And then he, Gingka, and the others would defeat the forces of evil once more. They had done it once. This time, they had a larger chance, which meant that it would be easier, although more complicated.

* * *

"Come on Gingka, you'd think you could make a stupid sandwich without making some stupid mistake." Gingka chuckled to himself as he reached the kitchen and grabbed the peanut butter, this time making sure it actually was peanut butter. As he began making a sandwich that Yuki could (hopefully) actually eat, his thoughts turned to the task they had at hand. A slight annoyance grew in his mind at the thought that he couldn't just take the threat down the usual way, with Pegasus blazing.

As Gingka finished making the sandwich, his thoughts turned to those he was protecting. He sighed slightly, wondering how all of his old friends were doing. He hadn't spoken to anyone he knew other than his fellow Legendary Bladers for at least a year or so, with the exception of Hyoma. Gingka hoped that Hyoma and Hokuto were not panicking and trying to find him with his sudden disappearance, although perhaps it would be better if they were. If the news were to spread that he had disappeared without a trace, it would solidify his cover story with the Garcias.

* * *

"You know, for this to be convincing, our friends are going to have to think the same information that the Garcias are going to be thinking." Gingka said as he came down a few minutes later with an edible sandwich, which he set down next to Yuki.

"Yeah." Yuki said, nodding slightly as he slid two metal pieces together. "Since, if you were to be ordered to attack them, it'd be more convincing if you did so without them knowing that it was you."

Gingka nodded. "That could pose a problem though. If we present me as good at capturing, I may be ordered to capture anyone they want out of the way. That could significantly decrease our chances of winning if they target anyone and everyone who is against them."

"Well, we don't have a better plan or time to come up with one." Yuki said. "However, I do have a way to keep them from wanting to get you out and to their base."

"And that is?"

"To have you supposedly sealed in with no way out." Yuki said. "But the trouble will be making it convincing and still being able to actually get you out."

"... Maybe we don't need to actually seal me away." Gingka said. "How much time do you need until it's finished?"

"Like I said, I can probably have it finished tomorrow if we can work through the night." Yuki said. "That's including testing and assuming that nothing goes wrong during testing. I have figured out everything else."

Gingka nodded. "Leave fake trapping myself to me then."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"I can handle collapsing something." Gingka grinned.

"You mean… You're going to fake being permanently trapped somewhere?" Yuki said, raising an eyebrow.

Gingka grinned. "I'm going to partially collapse some of those random ruins so that they cannot be cleared. Once we try to convince the Garcias of my capture, you just have to show them Pegasus. Having my bey would be a pretty solid proof of having me trapped somewhere, because they'd know that nobody could just take Pegasus without being able to defeat me."

"Well I can't deny the logic of that plan." Yuki said. "And it'd save you from having to rush and get into this suit before I got the Garcias to the location of it. You'd already be there."

Gingka nodded. "And we have the building ready already, since Ryuga and I got that done previously."

Yuki blinked. "You got Ryuga to help you on a building project?"

"... We were both bored and battling was off-limits, so…" Gingka chuckled sheepishly. "Actually I think I did most of the work while he stood around and taunted me for not being able to carry the entire stack of building materials. He stopped when I whacked him with a giant beam of wood."

Yuki snorted. "You would do that, wouldn't you?"

"Knocked him out cold for a good two hours and got me some peace and quiet to work." Gingka chuckled. "And he stopped complaining and started helping a bit more after that."

"And this looks actually like a legitimate science lab and not some random conglomeration of boards and drywall, right?" Yuki said, raising an eyebrow.

"Modeled it after your lab here on the inside and built it inside some ruins so that it was disguised and looked like a ruin, making it the perfect evil scientist lair." Gingka chuckled.

"I'm tempted to say I'm impressed, but I think I'll have to see this 'perfect evil scientist lair' for myself." Yuki chuckled.

"Well you'll get to since you'll have to set it up like an actual lab using some of your materials." Gingka said.

"Well that'll be easy." Yuki said. "Now shoo before you mess up something and go mess up something else."

Gingka laughed and saluted before darting off. If there was one thing that he and any of the others were good at, it was blowing stuff up. They did it to train sometimes, after all. Sometimes they blew up stuff that they hadn't wanted to blow up, as the excitement of battle often took over when they locked beys and fought. However, the chance to blow up something on purpose, after being forced to not use a bey for weeks on end, was something that Gingka was going to take on with the greatest level of enthusiasm possible.

* * *

Soon enough, Gingka reached his destination, which was a small ruin sitting atop quite the network of caverns. Gingka knew his way around the caverns quite well, having explored them extensively during all of the free time he had been having lately. Collapsing one part of them and sealing it off would be quite simple.

"Alright Pegasus, let's do this." Gingka said, an excited gleam appearing in his eyes as he raised his launcher and attached his bey onto it. The silver and blue bey gleamed and pulsed slightly, as if it were also excited.

"Now what do I have to hit to knock this thing down..?" Gingka wondered, looking around him at the cavern. "Everything, I suppose. Let it rip!"

Pegasus leapt from the launcher, flying and hitting what looked to be the main support for the roof. Gingka smirked in triumph as the roof began to cave, only to realize that if it caved now he actually would be trapped. This sudden realization caused the redhead to yelp and dart out as fast as his legs could carry him, diving out the cave entrance. Luckily, he had realized it soon enough, for the cavern collapsed entirely in on itself the moment Gingka was outside.

"That was too close." Gingka breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled, picking himself up off the ground and dusting off his clothing before looking back at the rubble filling the mouth of the cavern behind him.

"Oh, but I could blow that away easily if I had Pegasus. Or I could dig it away. So… To seal it…" Gingka muttered, his eyes glowing blue. "Heat it up, Pegasus!"

With a flash of brilliant blue light, Pegasus began spinning even more rapidly, moving in a tight circle and smashing against several rocks until they began to melt.

"Now!" Gingka whooped, making a punching motion with one arm as Pegasus flew and bounced against the rocks blocking the entrance, melting them just enough so that, when they cooled, they became a single, solid boulder that nothing short of Pegasus's power could possibly break through.

"Yeah! That oughta do it!" Gingka whooped again as he caught his bey out of the air before yelping and dropping it.

"Ow ow ow! Still hot!" Gingka groaned and used part of his scarf to protect his fingers from the heat of his bey as he picked it up from the ground.

"Well Pegasus, we did it. Perhaps soon there will be another battle that you can fight, but for now, I have to do it on my own." Gingka said, staring as usual at the gleaming silver edges of Pegasus. He smiled before putting the bey safely away in his carrier case and looking up towards the sky, watching as the sun began to slip behind the trees.

"I suppose it all truly begins tomorrow." Gingka sighed as he began heading back to the observatory.

* * *

"You ready for this?" Yuki asked a few hours later as Gingka arrived.

Gingka blinked. "You finished it while I was gone?"

"Yep." Yuki chuckled. "It should be all ready to go. We just have to test it and make sure you can actually fly."

Gingka whistled. "I hope I'm even ready for this."

"You should be." Yuki chuckled and handed Gingka a silvery metal box with a strong-looking harness-like thing attached.

"What is this?" Gingka asked, blinking.

"This is the entire thing folded up into one small package." Yuki grinned.

Gingka's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Helmet, jetpacks and all?"

"Yep." Yuki chuckled. "And I know that it unfolds and folds back in completely. I had already had it partially unfolded last time you tried it. This time it's completely folded down. Of course, it won't often be like this."

"Yeah. I'll have it out most of the time." Gingka said. "I'll have to to keep the Garcias fooled."

"Yep. But now it should work beautifully. Try it out." Yuki said, helping Gingka put it on before grabbing the long blue coat that Gingka wore over it and handing it to him.

"How?" Gingka asked.

"It's voice-controlled except for the controls to turn the outside speakers on and off." Yuki said.

"Outside speakers?" Gingka raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I gave you the ability to talk and have nobody outside the helmet hear you, or to have your voice heard outside the helmet." Yuki said. "It'll help a lot for our communications, if you need to talk to me or one of the others but don't want them to hear. The controls for that are also subtle. Just tap these two fingers together." Yuki said, holding up one hand and pressing his pointer finger and thumb together. "That'll toggle it and a voice inside the helmet will tell you whether it's on or off. I also added something to distort your voice beyond any recognition by making it monotone."

"And the activation code?"

"Well, you can figure that out." Yuki chuckled. "I made it pretty much what you asked."

"Well then… Activate Stormflight system."

* * *

 **Welp, this should be the second to last chapter, so it is once again time for the usual second-to-last chapter cryptic paragraph!**

When things become blurred and flipped around, how is it possible to flip them back to normal? When what worked previously now fails, what can even be tried? Can anything be won when the tables are turned and evil prevails?


	11. Success

**Final chapter guys! This story has been fun, but I was ready to end it. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Dynamis, I hope you guys are all on standby and ready to disappear when needed."

"You have completed it then?"

"Yeah." Gingka said. "I'm using it to call you right now. Yuki is setting our plan in motion while I wait here at the laboratory and pretend to be shut down. Call the others, will you? I have to make sure I am paying attention enough to 'boot up' when Yuki comes and flips the switch. I only hope he can convince the Garcias."

"I suppose we shall see." Dynamis said. "Good luck, Gingka."

"Thanks." Gingka said, taking a deep breath. "This is going to be likely one of the most dangerous things I have ever done."

"You'll pull through. You always do." Dynamis said.

"Gotts go. Yuki's here and said the Garcias will be in less than a minute. They wanted to set up a perimeter to make sure nobody's coming." Gingka said.

"I shall see you when you come to capture me then." Dynamis said, cutting off the connection.

"Where is this robot you spoke of?" Ian Garcia asked as he entered. Gingka took one more deep breath before holding as still as he possibly could, standing in a corner.

"Right over here." Yuki, disguised in a golden cloak and hood, along with some goggles, led Ian and the few enemy agents who were with him over to Gingka, who watched them calmly through the eyepieces in his mask.

"Seems like a lot of clothes for a robot." Ian commented.

"Well, that is to make him seem more humanlike, and to keep the parts from getting wet and potentially rusting." Yuki said. "Also to protect from cold weather should those conditions be the robot's surroundings."

"Would you mind us seeing precisely how this works?" Ian asked. "It seems to be quite the piece of technology."

"I am afraid I cannot. I sealed off any way of ever doing that, and must keep my trade secrets." Yuki replied calmly. Gingka let out a slight sigh in relief, glad that Yuki was good at making comebacks.

Ian huffed. "Suit yourself. I suppose you do have the right to keep the secrets of your creation secret. However, I must, as a good conductor of business, ask if this contraption actually works the way you claim it to work."

"Of course it does. I only made the claim that it could take down Gingka Hagane because it already has." Yuki said.

Gingka very nearly shuddered at the undertone of evilness that Yuki managed to get into his voice with that line. It was quite convincing, as was evidenced by the surprised look on Ian's face.

"You have proof of this?" Ian said slowly.

"But of course I do." Yuki said, reaching within the folds of his cloak and pulling out a glittering silver and blue object. "This is his Pegasus. He is trapped in a cavern, and without this, he will not be able to escape. He has been in there for quite some time now."

Ian looked impressed. "Show me how this works, and show me the cave Hagane is trapped in, and we may have a deal."

"Stormflight has the location of the cave and can show you the location. He is a robitic soldier who you can command just as you would any other soldier. He will do the rest, and can think for himself as a human can. I used some of the highest levels of technology and computer science to achieve this feat." Yuki said proudly.

"'Stormflight'?" Ian said quizzically.

"The name of my creation." Yuki said, reaching over and putting one hand on Gingka's arm, giving him a slight reassuring squeeze that went unnoticed by all but Gingka.

"Ahh. I see. So it has a name." Ian said.

"Well, of course it does. I had to call it something shorter and better-sounding than 'Experiment 309." Yuki replied.

"And to activate it?"

"Well that is quite simple." Yuki stepped back slightly.

"Get ready, Gingka…" Gingka muttered to himself.

"All you have to do is tell him to activate." Yuki said. "Stormflight, activate all primary systems."

Gingka's eyes flashed around the screens inside his helmet. "Computer, activate eyes and mechanical noises." He said, as whirring and clicking noises began to emanate from the miniature speakers hidden around his person. Ian watched in surprise as a brilliant blue glow ignited in the previously darkened eyes.

Gingka, feeling adrenaline begin to rise in his body as his turn to perform came, stiffly moved several parts of his body, as if he really were a robot who was just booting itself up. He took this opportunity to tap his left forefinger and thumb together, activating his outer speakers.

"All systems ready." He said, smirking slightly with pleasure at the distorted and monotone sound of his voice as it came out of the room.

"From here, commands are easy." Yuki explained. "You can command Stormflight as you would do to a regular person. His interface is also quite interactive, as I said, he can think like a human being could. For example." Yuki paused and turned to Gingka. "Good afternoon, Stormflight."

"Good afternoon, Sir." Gingka replied, making sure to give slight pauses to further push the idea of the robot.

"This is Mister Ian Garcia." Yuki said, gesturing to Ian. Gingka stiffly rotated his head so that his glowing eyes were pointed towards and focused on Ian.

"He is considering becoming your master. Please enter this data into your software." Yuki said.

Gingka rolled his eyes slightly at the technical terms. "Information saved."

"Thank you. Now take us to where you sealed away Gingka Hagane." Yuki said.

"Of course, Sir." Gingka said, beginning to walk as robotically as he knew he could keep up for a while. He was now very glad that Yuki had forced him to practice these movements repeatedly over the past week, because now he knew that they would not give Ian any reason to doubt that what he saw was anything other than a robot.

"He moves quite humanlike." Ian commented. Gingka felt himself tense slightly, biting his lip as he kept walking.

"Yes, I managed to make his movement nearly perfectly like that of a human." Yuki said.

"You seem to have made all of him humanlike." Ian said, disguising what could be suspicion as a simple conversational comment.

"Well, I figured that since the human body works so well, why not model a robot after it as closely as possible?" Yuki said.

"I see." Ian said, seemingly convinced, but who knew whether or not hw actually was?

Gingka forced the worries from his mind. He refused to be nervous about this. He couldn't let nervousness cloud his judgment, or there would be something larger to worry about. He simply had to lead Ian to the place where he was supposedly trapped, and then the moment of truth would come.

"Isn't it rather dangerous to be out in the forest like this?" Ian asked.

"Perhaps, but the way through here is mostly clear, I beileve. And Stormflight should be able to pick up on anything that approaches. Plus, you do have your own agents with you and I am sure that you have trained them for this jungle, since you brought them, am I right?" Yuki said causually, although Gingka was sure that the brunette's mind was likely half-focused on the potential of snakes.

A slight tap of the forefinger to the thumb again, and Gingka's helmet reported that his speakers were off, leaving him free to use his vocal commands.

"Computer, switch to partial heat vision." He ordered, hoping that he would be able to make out anything that was in the area.

"Switching to heat vision at fifty percent." The computer reported as Gingka's view of the surroundings became more colorful.

"Stormflight, check for anything in the surroundings that may be dangerous." Yuki said.

Gingka quickly tapped his fingers together. "Yes sir." He said, then stopped walking and slowly looked around, not identifying anything that looked dangerous. "Nothing has been detected. Area is clear."

"Thank you." Yuki said, sounding slightly more relieved.

"You're welcome, sir." Gingka said, continuing on and keeping an eye out for anything that might pose a threat. He, for one, would be glad when this mission was entirely over. But right now it was just beginning, and it would likely be quite some time before it was all over.

"This is the location." Gingka announced as they finally arrived with no incident, Ian's helicopter following them the whole way.

"And the cavern?" Ian asked.

"Right here, sir. I have melted and sealed the rock so that it cannot be moved." Gingka said, indicating the solid wall of rock.

Ian stepped up to the rocks and inspected them before ordering everyone to stand back and raising his beylauncher. He launched powerfully at the rocks, and Herculeo's impact created quite the explosion, but when the dust cleared, there was barely a dent in the rock.

Gingka allowed himself a smirk at this. "I could have cracked that easily with Pegasus." He thought, suddenly remembering that he needed to get his bey back from Yuki before Ian noticed.

"Well, I suppose that settles things then." Ian said, lowering his launcher and replacing Herculeo in a case hidden inside his suit coat.

"You have made your decision then?" Yuki said.

"Yes. We will agree to your terms and try out your robot." Ian said.

"If there seems to be a flaw in his workings simply send him back to my lab or call me and I shall see what I can do to repair it." Yuki said.

"Of course. Thank you, sir." Ian said.

"My pleasure." Yuki said before walking over to Gingka, who had stood silently through the exchange. "Stormflight, do you understand what you are to do?"

"No, sir." Gingka replied.

Yuki reached both arms forwards, long sleeves trailing slightly. In a moment, the exchange was made, and Pegasus was safely tucked into its case underneath Gingka's coat, the transition hidden beneath Yuki's cloak.

"You are to go with Mr. Garcia and fulfill any order he gives as a method of testing your full intelligence and abilities, is that clear?"

"Perfectly, sir." Gingka said.

"Good. Then go." Yuki said, stepping back as Gingka stepped forwards and into Ian's helicopter, which had landed for the purpose of picking them up.

Yuki watched as the helicopter took off with Gingka inside. He bit his lip slightly and watched the helicopter until it was out of sight. Only time would tell now whether they would succeed or not. Yuki only hoped that Gingka was up to the enormous task that he had given himself. If Gingka failed, he could die, that much was certain. All of them could.

As Yuki began the long walk back to his observatory, he was uncertain whether or not this had been a good idea. Of course, now it was too late to back out of it. Gingka was gone, off on his mission deep into enemy territory, and whether he succeeded or not was up entirely to him.

Gingka, as he stood in the helicopter surrounded by enemies, forced himself to stay calm. His golden-brown eyes flashed around the inside of his helmet, as he forced himself to simply breathe. The important thing right now was to not panic and to do his job. The last thing he was going to do was fail. The Garcias and whatever they were planning would be stopped. Gingka knew that much. Even if he did not stop them, he would die trying before he let them take over the world.

As the helicopter soared towards the looming building in the middle of the forest with all its secrets, only one thought was in the minds of both Gingka and Yuki.

"Operation Stormflight has begun. And, no matter what… Together, we stand."

* * *

 **Two things to finish this off: First, if you feel like there should have been more and that this wasn't a solid ending, you're probably right. But this wasn't supposed to be a solid ending because this is a prequel story. If you have not read the rest of the Stormflight series, you should go do so. The first one is titled Together We Stand (Yes, I used its title for the last few words of this story. Because I could. XP) And you can go from there.**

 **Second: New story next week guys! So, next weekend, I am pleased to announce that you may look for "Rearrangement: More Than it Seems." This story will be back up to my former writing level that I don't feel like I have had since I wrote Lost in the Echo. Oh, and if I can pull it off properly it'll be worse in feels than Not One of Us was. Just chew on that fact for a week. ;)**

 **On that note, until next time, Galaxy out!**


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